AOS Interview- Missing Some Pieces?

[Phillabuster 5]

Hello everyone! We're finally on our way to the Adjustment of Status interview proper, hooray! We have a few concerns though and were wondering if anyone's dealt with this:

1.) My wife's SSN was mishandled and sent to the wrong address. When we went to get a new card re-issued, the SoSec Office refused to re-issue it, thinking the K1 visa had expired when in fact she was here legally. As a result, we had no way to get joint bank accounts or put her on our condo's lease. Pretty crappy situation! I've already printed out all of our wedding photos, assembled all of our Facebook memories (with dates & family comments), and gotten our wedding book together. Any ideas on what additional things we can do to prove legitimacy in our relationship? We're both a little scared- the mishandling wasn't our fault and we're worried that our future might pay the price. (We do have extensive plans to tie our lives together financially, but got stalled by this issue. We're eager to get started when she gets her approval.)

2.) I was keeping our copy of the AOS application in our car, which was recently stolen. We're currently missing the cover letter and forms I-485 and I-864. As luck would have it, I do have the supporting evidence for the I-864, which we'll be bringing to the interview. Does anyone know if not having this information on hand will hurt our case? I found one guide that seemed to suggest you only need a copy so you can help them cross-check information, which wouldn't be an issue.

I feel terrible that so much has happened to our situation, it just feels like we're throwing out excuses even though this is all the truth. Any advice y'all might have would be really appreciated, even if it's just reassurances that the interview isn't as scary as all these guides make it sound! I'm trying to keep my wife -and myself- calm in the face of all the nonsense we've had happen to us while waiting for this interview.

Thanks, everyone! : )

[Crazy Cat 39,831]

Insurance documents (Car, Life, Health)

Wills

Health Care proxy statements

Documentation showing a common residence address for both people

Any common document a marriage would generate.

 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

8 minutes ago, missileman said:

Insurance documents (Car, Life, Health)

Wills

Health Care proxy statements

Documentation showing a common residence address for both people

Any common document a marriage would generate.

 

^^ that for #1. proving he relationship is bonafide should be the easiest thing of all of it. you dont need a SS card to do so. 

as for #2, are you on the way to the interview RIGHT NOW? did you not have another copy at home or these things on your computer? You'll get an RFE if you dont have them (the 485 and 864 in particular).

 

and you need to alert the credit bureaus your personal info has been compromised and change passwords/ security phrases/ etc for any financial or personally sensitive websites. You do know those docs contain VERY SENSITIVE and PRIVATE info that would make it easy for an identity thief to have a field day with almost zero effort. just an FYI

 

I would totally fuss at you for keeping it in your car, but my fiance has a copy of our K1 packet in his truck for when he drives over the border (hes never needed it but you know if he took it out he would). No, i dont like the fact he leaves it in his truck. 😕 

Edited September 2, 2018 by debbiedoo

[Boiler 43,851]

No idea why they need a SSN for a lease but I opened a bank account without a SSN.

[Liflead 112]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

No idea why they need a SSN for a lease but I opened a bank account without a SSN.

How to open a US bank account without SSN? I heard the bank asks for SSN to open an account? Which bank did you open with and what documents do they ask for for a k-1 visa holder?

Edited September 2, 2018 by Liflead

[Highmystic 234]

54 minutes ago, Phillabuster said:

Hello everyone! We're finally on our way to the Adjustment of Status interview proper, hooray! We have a few concerns though and were wondering if anyone's dealt with this:

Thanks, everyone! : )

Along with others good advice, I would add, with the absence of a joint bank account, you can add her as a user on credit cards where they issue one in her name on the card, but your account #.  Also add her as beneficiary to bank accounts, ins policies, etc.

[Phillabuster 5]

10 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

^^ that for #1. proving he relationship is bonafide should be the easiest thing of all of it. you dont need a SS card to do so. 

as for #2, are you on the way to the interview RIGHT NOW? did you not have another copy at home or these things on your computer? You'll get an RFE if you dont have them (the 485 and 864 in particular).

 

and you need to alert the credit bureaus your personal info has been compromised and change passwords/ security phrases/ etc for any financial or personally sensitive websites. You do know those docs contain VERY SENSITIVE and PRIVATE info that would make it easy for an identity thief to have a field day with almost zero effort. just an FYI

 

I would totally fuss at you for keeping it in your car, but my fiance has a copy of our K1 packet in his truck for when he drives over the border (hes never needed it but you know if he took it out he would). No, i dont like the fact he leaves it in his truck. 😕 

I'm not sure how to respond to an RFE since I don't have copies. I kept it in my car to help with identifying her as a legal immigrant, since I heard the NOA2 alone wouldn't help. I did change passwords, though. So far, no issues! I have fraud alerts on pretty much everything bank-related and check all my accounts frequently.

This all said, how would one respond to an RFE for these things if we don't have copies? Make new ones? I technically could, they're really not difficult documents to fill back out, especially since I have all the supporting evidence required on hand. Thankfully, those were NOT in the car at the time. (We are due to attend in the next couple of days- I'm only posting this after scouring everything many, many times in the hopes I would find copies. They were the only things I didn't have copies of, for some reason.)

I feel stupid for losing important documents, but hoping we're not the first ones to experience this and that there's an easy solution. It's been especially hard keeping track of everything since we both have conditions that affect our ability to remember and organize things (my severe ADHD in particular. Honestly it's incredible we have so much of our original documentation. Really due to my wife's fastidiousness in making copies! I guess I never handed the documents to her. : ( )

[Phillabuster 5]

Thank you everyone! If we have issues, I'll try getting our lease agreement, which should have her listed as a resident of the building. I didn't think to do that, but it's readily available! (Of course our interview would be scheduled right after a holiday.) I'll also look into a credit card. Hopefully we don't have to use it in order to open it.

RE: the banks not requiring an SSN, literally every one where we live requires one. We're in a border state and I assume that's why. We were heartbroken when we found that out.

This really is a nightmare situation for us. I'm really worried now. I hope this has a happy ending. : ( I'm a little skeptical at the idea that we're the first people to misplace documents before and that there's no way to fix it, though. Surely if we sent it off and got to the interview part, the documentation exists? With all the paperwork they ask for you to keep in triplicate, it just seems like a strange thing for one or two papers going missing that you filled out accurately, recently, and already submitted completely throwing an irreparable spanner in the works.

Please though, I appreciate all the insight, especially from people who have had this happen!

[Naes 12,205]

On 9/2/2018 at 12:07 PM, Liflead said:

How to open a US bank account without SSN? I heard the bank asks for SSN to open an account? Which bank did you open with and what documents do they ask for for a k-1 visa holder?

I opened on Wells Fargo, my friend opened one in Bank of America.

 

you need a proof of address(if opening personal account, nothing if getting add to a joint account) and proof of identification(passport) and I used a credit card for second proof of identification.

No ssn nothing.

 

for joint accounts as long as both people are available you can add a person even with a tourist visa as they won’t even look at a visa.

[Phillabuster 5]

4 hours ago, Naes said:

I opened on Wells Fargo, my friend opened one in Bank of America.

 

you need a proof of address(if opening personal account, nothing if getting add to a joint account) and proof of identification(passport) and I used a credit card for second proof of identification.

No ssn nothing.

 

for joint accounts as long as both people are available you can add a person even with a tourist visa as they won’t even look at a visa.

Weird! The banks here kept quoting the Patriot Act and refused to help us. : ( Again, it must be because we're in a border state. People are really paranoid here. There must be pressure from local law enforcement, which is 100% a thing where we live. (In my opinion, it's ridiculous and does more harm than good.) Glad you were able to get it though! : )

[Phillabuster 5]

Hey guys! Just wanted to give you a quick thanks for all the inspiration. After some digging and soul-searching, I managed to dig up a hotel booking under my wife's name for our last big vacation to Vegas, a copy of our lease agreement (they won't give us the original, hmmph!) which had her name on it (YAY!), some IM chats about boring couple stuff like dinner plans and bedtimes, a screenshot of her listed as contact info on our utility account, and a whole bunch of photos we'd taken and kept on Facebook of my wife and I standing in and around our shared apartment and condo, including some moving announcements.

I think that, when coupled with the photos we have from mixed family parties, we should be golden. We have all our dates straight, we drew the house for fun since we're both artists, and reviewed our wedding album. Honestly a nice way to spend the evening before something so stressful! If we get RFE'd, we'll easily be able to provide information or sign up for additional things right away. We're not especially worried anymore. Thank y'all SO much for all the amazing ideas and inspiration! Nothing a morning of digging around couldn't fix. : )

We'll update this thread with our experience tomorrow when we get home! We've heard horror stories, but we've also heard from people who seemed over-prepared. We're hoping ours will be the latter, ha!

I also printed out new forms for the ones we were missing with our updated information. We did have a move between filing and now, and I had a job change. I'm expecting to maybe get RFE'd to provide additional evidence about my income, but since the wages were an increase and it's the truth, it should be very easy to get ahold of the evidence they need.

[KozmicBlues 592]

18 hours ago, Phillabuster said:

Hey guys! Just wanted to give you a quick thanks for all the inspiration. After some digging and soul-searching, I managed to dig up a hotel booking under my wife's name for our last big vacation to Vegas, a copy of our lease agreement (they won't give us the original, hmmph!) which had her name on it (YAY!), some IM chats about boring couple stuff like dinner plans and bedtimes, a screenshot of her listed as contact info on our utility account, and a whole bunch of photos we'd taken and kept on Facebook of my wife and I standing in and around our shared apartment and condo, including some moving announcements.

I think that, when coupled with the photos we have from mixed family parties, we should be golden. We have all our dates straight, we drew the house for fun since we're both artists, and reviewed our wedding album. Honestly a nice way to spend the evening before something so stressful! If we get RFE'd, we'll easily be able to provide information or sign up for additional things right away. We're not especially worried anymore. Thank y'all SO much for all the amazing ideas and inspiration! Nothing a morning of digging around couldn't fix. : )

We'll update this thread with our experience tomorrow when we get home! We've heard horror stories, but we've also heard from people who seemed over-prepared. We're hoping ours will be the latter, ha!

I also printed out new forms for the ones we were missing with our updated information. We did have a move between filing and now, and I had a job change. I'm expecting to maybe get RFE'd to provide additional evidence about my income, but since the wages were an increase and it's the truth, it should be very easy to get ahold of the evidence they need.

I hope everything went smoothly! I'm also in Phoenix so I'm especially curious and hopeful! How long did it take you guys to get an interview from when you first filed? We're still waiting for the EAD (filed in April) and I know the interview is going to take much longer, but just curious as I haven't seen many people from the Phoenix office who went through K1>AOS. 

[Phillabuster 5]

1 hour ago, KozmicBlues said:

I hope everything went smoothly! I'm also in Phoenix so I'm especially curious and hopeful! How long did it take you guys to get an interview from when you first filed? We're still waiting for the EAD (filed in April) and I know the interview is going to take much longer, but just curious as I haven't seen many people from the Phoenix office who went through K1>AOS. 

You'll do great! It varies a bit, but in our case it was 1.5 years. Another Australian we met had a 1.5 year timeline too. We were never able to file the EAD (which wound up being okay- my wife's an artist and never had the opportunity to build a portfolio for the career she wants, so we just decided that she could take care of the house while I worked, which would give her time to work on her own projects).  I hope you get yours soon! I can't imagine they'd keep you waiting too long.

[Phillabuster 5]

Great news everyone, we passed on the spot! I'll start a new thread with the topic so people who are nervous can read about our experience. Our IO did seem to appreciate our catalog page, sticky note tabs, and our sizable (and catagorized!) facebook photo timeline. Couldn't have gone better. Thanks again for all your help! Wishing all of you a similarly hitch-free experience!