January 2019 - AOS Filers (merged)

[The_Empyrean 733]

20 hours ago, Northerndynasty said:

If it is to be anything like ours, you MUST bring ALL of the following - and MORE!

 

ASSUME everything below is of ORIGINAL, LONG FORM, COMPLETE and OFFICIAL documents:

1)  ID documents for both of you. Birth certificates, passports, driver's licenses, marriage certificates, divorce decrees/judgments, citations/fines/tickets issued by law enforcement (parking, traffic violations, etc) and the pleads for all, all correspondence from USCIS with regards to your application (from day 1!). (Have originals and long forms (where applies) of all mentioned in this point, also have copies of them to give to officer if asked).

2)  Medical assessment in it's original and sealed envelope. (Very important)

3)  Bills/statements - (copies are OK, so long as you are prepared to give a copy to the Officer):

       Lease/Mortgage, car payments, insurance (health, property, auto, life), electric, water, internet, cellphone - ALL showing BOTH of your names on EVERYTHING. (Again, don't go overboard. We didn't have most of them because we were staying with my parents at the time. But have some ready for sure. Insurance, Cell, lease should be more than enough) 

5) Bank account(s) statements with BOTH names on the account - covering at LEAST the last YEAR (all of 2019) Not needed for a whole year. Have 2-3 statements, 2-3 months apart to show consistency and income/spendings, show shared Credit Cards, Debit Cards. That's more important.  Ensure the joint account has PLENTY of deposits, paycheck deposits, transactions, and a solid, (They don't care about his as much as consistency) consistent balance.  Prepare to surrender these, so have copies.

4)  Retirement fund accounts and balances, and showing that your spouse (the SPONSORED party) is your beneficiary, should you die. (Can be seen as 3rd point. Same purpose)

5)  Pictures - LOTS of pictures (Not necessary. 5-7, max 10 are more than enough. Again, different time stamps, different places, different people, anniversaries, don't go overboard with amount of pictures, trust me. He/She will just take a glance and put them into your file (which contains everything you've given them already) - from as far back as you can, to as immediate as you can.  These pictures WILL BE SURRENDERED to the Officer.

Showing:

      Dates, attending events together, fun pictures, serious pictures, somewhat "romantic" pictures (NOT lewd, DUH!), pictures with each OTHER'S family in them, vacation pictures, anniversary pictures, wedding pictures (to include attendees). 

 

So...we were very light on a lot of these things, and the Officer definitely didn't give us any clues during our interview of our success or failure likelihood.  Only, to ensure we were WELL-AWARE of the short-comings in many of the financial documents.  But, in this day-and-age, remarried couples who may have been married more than once before, don't just do it like your first marriage may have been done.  So...

 

However, we were notified THAT evening of successfully passing the interview, and the rest is history.

 

Go in with MUCH, MUCH more than that officer needs...and you should be fine.  Go in with anything short, and you may be in for a fight!

 

 Best wishes!

 

I added/edited some stuff you said to the person asking for tips.

Great and solid rundown. 

 

Good luck everyone!

Edited January 14, 2020 by The_Empyrean

[igoyougoduke 1,614]

43 minutes ago, Erin86 said:

After 32 days I received the notifications last night for 485 and 765... but they made a mistake and rejected my 131. Absolute incompetence. 

What was the reason for rejection ?

[SR_CAN 111]

Hey guys! Long time no post... hope everyone had a wonderful new year!

 

This might've been discussed already, but our interview got scheduled for February (San Francisco) and I'm a little confused about the medical exam I-693. Do I have to do the medical again if I entered the US on a K1 (medical was in fall 2018).

 

Thank you!

[The_Empyrean 733]

9 hours ago, SR_CAN said:

Hey guys! Long time no post... hope everyone had a wonderful new year!

 

This might've been discussed already, but our interview got scheduled for February (San Francisco) and I'm a little confused about the medical exam I-693. Do I have to do the medical again if I entered the US on a K1 (medical was in fall 2018).

 

Thank you!

Hey!

As long as you filed AoS within a year of your medical - no need to get one in US.

 

Also, your medical should be marked as "complete" for it to be valid for AoS. So check your DS-3025 copy. If it's incomplete, then you'll need to get the remainder of the shots here, and have it transferred to I-693 by USCIS authorized physician. 

[Hazelnut 6]

I'm not sure who else in the same boat as me, but I'm still waiting on anything about my case (I completed my interview in Baltimore back in April.) I called USCIS back in December and the person said it was still considered under processing times, but said she tried to push my case "outside the normal processing time" and I'd hear back in 30 days. It has now been over a month, so I don't think anything is happening. I don't know if moving to a different state in September cause any further delay.

 

I'm going to file for EAD and AP renewal as they expire in May.

[Albert V 75]

3 hours ago, Hazelnut said:

I'm not sure who else in the same boat as me, but I'm still waiting on anything about my case (I completed my interview in Baltimore back in April.) I called USCIS back in December and the person said it was still considered under processing times, but said she tried to push my case "outside the normal processing time" and I'd hear back in 30 days. It has now been over a month, so I don't think anything is happening. I don't know if moving to a different state in September cause any further delay.

 

I'm going to file for EAD and AP renewal as they expire in May.

Same here.  I had my interview in May, filed 3 inquiries, got response for 2 of them, bu the latest one last month, it's been over a month and no response. The inquiries were filed under the "outside normal processing time" category as well. The second response I received back in Nov actually acknowledged that the case was outside processing, but they gave the usual response "we are still reviewing and need additional time". I know every case is different, but it seems that just about every case at the Mt. Laurel NJ office has gotten approved, either same day or within a few days. C'mon USCIS...

Edited January 22, 2020 by Albert V

[Ontarkie 13,979]

~~hijack post removed. Please start your own thread if you have questions for your own case.~~

[mital 16]

Finally it approved 😊

Edited January 30, 2020 by mital

[Albert V 75]

19 hours ago, mital said:

Finally it approved 😊

Congrats.  When was your interview?

[mital 16]

1 hour ago, Albert V said:

Congrats.  When was your interview?

Dec 6th 2019 Baltimore 

[Letspaintcookies 2,235]

On 1/31/2020 at 12:39 PM, Ontarkie said:

~~Duplicate threads merged.~~

 

I understand the excitement to share your journey with others in the same process, but for future processes. Please only start the tracking threads on the 1st on the month or shortly after. As starting it earlier has it fall and becomes out of site for others and we end up with multiple threads for the same timeline.

You accidently merged January 2019 with January 2020. 

[Ontarkie 13,979]

20 hours ago, Letspaintcookies said:

You accidently merged January 2019 with January 2020. 

Thank you I will fix it. 

[Ontarkie 13,979]

Sorry for the major mix up with this thread. Hopefully I found all the Jan 2020 posts. If I missed yours and you want it moved over message me. If I took a Jan 2019 post and you want it returned please message me. 

 

 

[Cyndy&Onyi 145]

Is there a February Filers Forum for AOS?

[Cyndy&Onyi 145]

On 1/31/2020 at 11:25 AM, Albert V said:

Congrats.  When was your interview?

A big congrats!!! I just checked your timeline. I didn't realize the EAD and Advanced Parole took so long to process. I was hoping and expecting it to be 3-4 months, yikes! I also checked the processing times for AOS, wow it takes 7.5 to 24 months! At any rate at least it gives me a realistic expectation of what to expect as a February filer. Anyways woohoo and congrats!! I'm sure you're so relieved!! 🤗🤗🤗