BINATIONAL SAME SEX COUPLES !! Show up!

[Davesings 30]

I agree with what FulanoDeTal has said. We are also waiting for TSC approval, but I am sure that they will not discriminate. It will be exciting when we all start getting our NOA2 notifications!

[Nadiab 3]

hello everybody...

i have a couple of questions again..

- how do you know when they are checking your files???

- and its been 19 days since i sent my pkgs and i still didnt get the biometric app letter.. do you know aprox how long does it takes??

im nervous..

thank you

[Frankie19 1]

Is there a particular day that status changes or is it at whim?

We have our interview on September 26th and are continually checking for EAD status. Nerve wracking!

This process seems to be going fairly quickly. Hopeful...

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

And, just as unfortunately, I think the green card and the passport have to match. Your only option at this point may be for your partner to keep her family name. I'm sorry Peru makes it so hard.

Sukie

No, they do NOT have to match. This is the problem with asking questions in a thread for people new to immigration. All of these issues and more have already been dealt with by our members for a long time.

You can keep your foreign passport in your maiden name. You will book tickets in the maiden name. You only need the GC to return to the US, and you can bring your marriage certificate (not license, as someone stated) as proof of name change, but mostly, people report not being asked about it.

I really encourage everyone to ask procedural questions in the rest of the forum. The members here don't bite, really.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[Sukie 1,439]

No, they do NOT have to match. This is the problem with asking questions in a thread for people new to immigration. All of these issues and more have already been dealt with by our members for a long time.

I really encourage everyone to ask procedural questions in the rest of the forum. The members here don't bite, really.

Harpa, gently, please. This thread was started for those of us who NEVER thought we'd be able to bring our loving spouses/fiances to the United States. We are excited, and we are scared, because we've been discriminated against for so long. Some of us have not been able to live in our own country for years because of this.

So instead of chastising us, how about pointing us to specific places where we will find our answers? I know you are very knowledgeable - and I know you've been here a lot longer than most of us have. Right now, this is the only forum we same-sex couples have, and often the answers for us are slightly different than for opposite-gendered couples based on the countries our loved ones are from.

I'm sure all of us will get used to the forum, and how it works and where to go to find specific answers, but for right now, we are still getting to know each other, and sharing our stories.

Sukie

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Sharing stories is great!

This is a common problem on this site, that people tend to congregate in certain areas, so it's not limited to this thread People congregate in the regional subforums, or in monthly filers threads mainly.

So, it's perfectly natural and I understand it. I stay on this site because I got bad advice once (really BAD) in a monthly filers thread. So I am sorry if I seemed harsh; I just wanted to be clear. I am sensitive to finding incorrect information in little discussion threads because it happened to me.

The whole point of the DOMA decision is equality (well actually as I understand it it was a deferral to states rights, but USCIS will be treating these cases the same as others). So I disagree that the answers are different for opposite-sex couples. I know it seems like there is a lot of difference but there is not.

For instance, to the point about passports, in fact, a lot of opposite-sex couples cannot change the names on their passports either. Some countries don't change names, so they just won't do it or recognize it. Those people also have to have two different names on their docs and it is fine. Some people choose not to change their passport because of the cost. It's all fine.

A lot of opposite-sex couples have been exiled from the US too, because their spouses are unable to get a visa to the US. If you stick around you will see the stories. There is a couple on here who have two kids and the husband's uncle or something told him when he was 16 to go to the US with a piece of paper he gave him. Turns out the paper was a fake Birth certificate, but the guy didn't know - he was a kid and he didn't know English. So he is banned forever from entering the US. So this couple tried a waiver, failed, and they moved to South Korea of all places so they can live together with their family. The laws appear to be changing to make an exception for what happened to the husband.

Furthermore, there are couples who are exiled abroad when the foreign beneficiary has done nothing wrong. In certain countries the documents are so bad that it is extremely time-consuming to double check all documents, and that process can take years. There are plenty of couples on here who have been separated for years, or who have self-exiled during the process.

Another one, a lot of people have to deal with their home countries that are hostile towards their marriages too. in some countries, marrying a different religion is illegal, for instance, so those people have to deal with different issues in that respect. There was a women from Iran who married a US marine, and she had to ask a lot of questions about how to conceal her marriage from her government because she could be in danger.

So, I get that's it's really exciting that this is all changing. And I am sure it feels amazing to be able to file en masse at long last. But I would suggest to no be afraid of the rest of the forum, and to not think that your applications are super different from anyone else's.

Good luck all. See you around the forum

[jerni 24]

Hi everyone! Another same-sex couple here getting ready to file our AOS paperwork. My husband and I have been together for almost 14 years and it feels amazing to finally start this process (that should have been available to us many years ago). Scary but exciting. Looking forward to talking with everyone

[cujodu 15]

Hi,

Wow, so many of us! My husband is Argentine. We got ou I-130 NOA1 on July 18. I returned to the USA a few weeks ago to start working/setting up a home. I got permanent residence in Argentina after our marriage, mostly automatic, I could get citizenship there after 3 years, but we're grateful for the fall of DOMA and the chance to live both here and there eventually.

Friend me on my profile if you'd like!

Curtis & Fabrizzio

[FulanoDeTal 19]

I agree with what FulanoDeTal has said. We are also waiting for TSC approval, but I am sure that they will not discriminate. It will be exciting when we all start getting our NOA2 notifications!

Some great news today for same-sex I-129F filers at the TSC: a same-sex fiance petition has been reported as receiving an NOA2 from the TSC! Not ours (yet), but it's good to know that these petitions are finally starting to move down in Texas.

[Davesings 30]

Fulano that is awesome! Where did you hear that and when was their NOA1??

[FulanoDeTal 19]

It was reported on the site by member GayK1inTexas this afternoon. GayK1 says that it was 56 days from NOA1 to NOA2. So it appears that things may be looking up for us at the TSC!

[Davesings 30]

Thanks Fulano! That is exciting...we are 41 days and counting...

[Sukie 1,439]

It was reported on the site by member GayK1inTexas this afternoon. GayK1 says that it was 56 days from NOA1 to NOA2. So it appears that things may be looking up for us at the TSC!

Congrats to them! Sure wish our I-130s would get a move-a-long. The I-130 March filers haven't even started getting approval - and they are 6 months down the track!

I wonder how many same-sex I-130s were sent in within 10 days of DOMA's fall? Ours went in the next day!

Sukie

[R & M 14]

Congrats to them! Sure wish our I-130s would get a move-a-long. The I-130 March filers haven't even started getting approval - and they are 6 months down the track!

I wonder how many same-sex I-130s were sent in within 10 days of DOMA's fall? Ours went in the next day!

Sukie

Ours too. PD is June 28. Yesterday I received an e-mail/SMS informing our I-130 was being transferred. Hopefully this will speed up the process.

[Sukie 1,439]

Ours too. PD is June 28. Yesterday I received an e-mail/SMS informing our I-130 was being transferred. Hopefully this will speed up the process.

R & M, where did your I-130 start? NBC(MSC)? I see that it's been transferred to a field office. Which one?

I have a stand-alone I-130, and the receipt was from the Overland Park, KS office, where I understand standalone I-130s will be adjudicated. The OP office wasn't supposed to have Section 8 (I-130s) operational until September - and from what I can gather, standalone I-130s beginning in May are probably being processed there. We just don't exactly when Section 8 was supposed to be up and running.

Sukie