AOS / K1 / Coronavirus

[ChimpNL 0]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm from the Netherlands but have been in the States on J1 status for the last 1.5 years. I will be out of status this upcoming Thursday.

 

We all know about all the current travel restrictions and the Coronavirus. This made my US fiance and I decide to get married and file AOS, instead of I travelling back to Europe in hopes of returning on a currently pending K1 and having to be seperate from him for an unknown amount of time. We got married over the weekend. However, we are not yet living together. We want to wait until we can have a proper, not rushed, religious ceremony that my parents will hopefully be able to attend, so the travel ban needs to lift for that to happen. We are willing to wait with a ceremony until October at the very latest. If the world is still shut down at that time, then we'll just have to have ceremony without them and move in together, but for now I think we feel it's better to wait to see what happens. 

 

I am absolutely not trying to marry just to get a green card. We have made this decision in an attempt to navigate the current, unprecedented circumstances.  

 

In the meantime, I am already on his lease, we have a joint bank account and I have proof of joining him on his health insurance. We have an affidavit sworn by a third party that our marriage is legitimate. I also have proof that we filed for K1 previously, which to me adds to the legitimacy of our intentions. We will definitely be living together by the time we have our interview and would be able to show pictures of the actual ceremony. 

My idea was to write a cover letter that I attach to my petition, to explain the circumstances. We are just worried that not living together is going to make USCIS think we are committing visa fraud, and deny our application instantaneously without us having a chance to explain ourselves. 

 

What do you guys think? Is a cover letter could enough? Any tips? 

 

Thanks!

[Crazy Cat 39,253]

 I see no need to explain.  If you have a valid marriage certificate, you are legally married....religious ceremony or not.  You already have enough to file the AOS package.  I would file the Adjustment of Status package immediately.

[ChimpNL 0]

1 minute ago, Lucky Cat said:

 I see no need to explain.  If you have a valid marriage certificate, you are legally married....religious ceremony or not.  You already have enough to file the AOS package.  I would file the Adjustment of Status package immediately.

We are in the review stage before we send it off. There are a few forms in our package that ask for my "current address" and it is not with him. So that is going to spark their attention, I would say. That's why I'm thinking of writing the cover letter. 

[Crazy Cat 39,253]

25 minutes ago, ChimpNL said:

We are in the review stage before we send it off. There are a few forms in our package that ask for my "current address" and it is not with him. So that is going to spark their attention, I would say. That's why I'm thinking of writing the cover letter. 

Your choice....Personally, I see no reason to live apart....you are married....good luck.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[Shipmaster 2]

38 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Your choice....Personally, I see no reason to live apart....you are married....good luck.

Don't rock the boat early. No need to explain anything. Use 1 address for both of you and submit the 485. Everyone knows people move. All these proofs etc will be needed at interview, not at submission of form. Married people may even have to work in different locations sometimes. Good luck.

[Crazy Cat 39,253]

1 minute ago, Shipmaster said:

Don't rock the boat early. No need to explain anything. Use 1 address for both of you and submit the 485. Everyone knows people move. All these proofs etc will be needed at interview, not at submission of form. Married people may even have to work in different locations sometimes. Good luck.

I agree......no reason to explain at this point, imo.....just file the package.....

[arken 4,197]

Even at the interview phase, just make sure that there is a good reason behind you two not living together even after getting married, like work, study...

 

If the reason is “married enough to file for i130/i485 but Not married enough to live together”, it will create a huge issue.

[DELETEME1234 208]

3 hours ago, ChimpNL said:

currently pending K1

Do I understand this correctly? Is there a K1 pending? How did that come to be?

 

3 hours ago, ChimpNL said:

In the meantime, I am already on his lease,

As cosigner or resident? Creating documents that don't reflect reality for the sake of having them is a rather grey area. 

 

3 hours ago, ChimpNL said:

I also have proof that we filed for K1 previously

I'm still confused about this part, why did you guys file for a visa that allows you to enter the country with the intention to marry and adjust status if you were already here for over a year on J1? Why didn't you get a NOS waiver? Edit: It just dawned on me that, if you are subject to the home residency requirement, you can't just adjust status without a waiver (or fulfilling the requirement).

 

3 hours ago, ChimpNL said:

My idea was to write a cover letter that I attach to my petition, to explain the circumstances.

I don't think this is smart or useful. I doubt it'll be read and taken into account by anyone, but even if it will be, there's all kinds of risks of misunderstanding. Generally the advice is to not volunteer information unless asked for, but answer honestly when asked. In this case it would be best to wait until asked about the discrepancy in addresses during the interview. 

 

2 hours ago, Shipmaster said:

Use 1 address for both of you and submit the 485.

 

2 hours ago, Lucky Cat said:

I agree......no reason to explain at this point, imo.....just file the package.....

Surely I don't have to tell you that this is against ToS, since it directly advises to commit perjury and condones it respectively. 

 

2 hours ago, arken said:

Even at the interview phase, just make sure that there is a good reason behind you two not living together even after getting married, like work, study...

 

If the reason is “married enough to file for i130/i485 but Not married enough to live together”, it will create a huge issue.

This. 

 

If for one reason or another OP doesn't consider herself to be 'married enough' to live together, and this comes out then it becomes one ugly mess. 

 

Frankly I think this whole topic is against ToS, and that's nothing personal to OP, but the way I read the opening post is: 

 

We just married to be able to file for AOS, other than in name I/we don't consider us to be married yet. I consider us to be married after a religious ceremony and therefore I cannot live together with my legal spouse. 

 

It's basically the reverse of common a marriage and I'm sad to say that as it stands now, it is the legal definition of immigration fraud (marrying for the sake of getting a green card), despite the intention to 'marry for real' later this year. 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Poseidon1212

[Crazy Cat 39,253]

1 hour ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Surely I don't have to tell you that this is against ToS, since it directly advises to commit perjury and condones it respectively. 

 

I have never, knowingly,  advised anyone to commit perjury...ever....If you think I have violated the TOS, feel free to report the post.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[DELETEME1234 208]

4 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

If you think I have violated the TOS, feel free to report the post.

Am I to understand from this that you don't condone @Shipmaster's suggestion to fill out the immigration forms contrary to OP's own description of their situation?

 

Also, wasn't aware that moderating happened on a request basis, could've sworn I've seen some pro-active moderating around here… but sure, I'll do my part in keeping this place consistent 

[arken 4,197]

15 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Frankly I think this whole topic is against ToS, and that's nothing personal to OP, but the way I read the opening post is: 

 

 

 

I kinda disagree in the sense that it is against VJ’s ToS. There are some people in some culture who don’t wanna stay together until formally married via traditional ceremony. Marrying via court/city hall is legal. So if they did that, petitioning via that marriage is legal whether they live in the same house or not. Will the IO suspect that? May be. That’s another issue but not the ToS violation.

Edited March 23, 2020 by arken

[Crazy Cat 39,253]

8 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Am I to understand from this that you don't condone @Shipmaster's suggestion to fill out the immigration forms contrary to OP's own description of their situation?

 

Also, wasn't aware that moderating happened on a request basis, could've sworn I've seen some pro-active moderating around here… but sure, I'll do my part in keeping this place consistent 

Personally, I don't think it really matters which address or addresses is used when filing.  They are legally married and have valid evidence proving that....i.e. "In the meantime, I am already on his lease, we have a joint bank account and I have proof of joining him on his health insurance.".  In addition, the couple plans to be living in the same home location soon.  If the IO questions it  at the interview, they can explain it then as a religious concern........and as I said, I, personally, see no reason to live apart.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[Loren Y 2,732]

I agree, just file the AOS, don't worry about explanations, don't worry about addresses, just pick one address that you will have for a while and use it. You are LEGALLY married in the eyes of USCIS, and LEGALLY able to AOS. I would get this done as soon as possible as the way things are going right now. The evidence and everything is not really required until you get to the interview ( Currently probably going to take over 2 years) so you will have plenty of time to get proof you are living together by then. Living apart currently is your choice, and years from now at the interview I doubt will be even looked at. Just tell them you were following the " Social Distancing" orders. LOL

[Zoeeeeeee 795]

Also, if you're going to be moving in together in the near future, it would be prudent to have that address as the one on file with uscis, as my understanding is that some people have had problems when changing their address part way through the process. 

[geowrian 22,335]

Omission alone is not a misrepresentation under the USCIS policy manual.

Failure to disclose relevant/material information when asked a question is.

 

If it asks for your current address, the correct answer is where you currently live.

It's not uncommon for an IO to check the dates people were living together against the evidence provided.

 

IMO, if filing now just to get in sooner but don't have a legitimate marriage, then that's an issue.

I'm going to assume it's a legitimate marriage but you are choosing to live apart. That's not uncommon if there is a suitable explanation. IMO, The explanation would only come into play if asked...you don't want to raise issues.

 

Also, check that your J-1 does not have a 2 year home residency requirement. I'm assuming you already checked this, but nobody mentioned it ITT yet so I thought I would.