Green Card was approved in 3 months, my AOS story

[Ayrton 965]

5 hours ago, Beyance said:

Do you know if it’s mandatory to take a medical exams before filing?

No. Read the instructions for form 693.

[Beyance 0]

On 10/1/2020 at 5:28 PM, itscarly said:

Thank you! I sent the medical examination with the AoS package 

 

5 hours ago, Ayrton said:

No. Read the instructions for form 693.

Thanks! Another question is did you use your married last name on the forms that you submitted or just your Maiden last names? 

[Ayrton 965]

1 minute ago, Beyance said:

 

Thanks! Another question is did you use your married last name on the forms that you submitted or just your Maiden last names? 

You use your current legal name. If you are changing your name with the marriage, then your legal name is the married last name.

[itscarly 114]

1 hour ago, Beyance said:

 

Thanks! Another question is did you use your married last name on the forms that you submitted or just your Maiden last names? 

It’s what @Ayrton said for both questions. I sent the medical examination only bc I was hopeful it wasn’t going to expire before the interview (it expires after 2 years) But it’s not mandatory, read the instructions carefully. And I didn’t change my last name. 

[itscarly 114]

Last update:

 

June 19: sent AoS package.

June 22: AoS in Chicago lockbox. (Priority Date)

July 13: received NOA letters.

July 28: received biometrics appointment letter.

August 13: biometrics appointment.

August 13: The fingerprints relating to your Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, were taken.

August 19: We are ready to schedule your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, for an interview.

August 21: We scheduled an interview for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

September 25: Interview

September 25: We ordered your new card.

September 28: Case was approved (I130)

September 28: We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

September 29: We received a I-797 NOA: Approval Notice in the mail dated 09/25/2020 for I-130 and I-485.

September 29: We mailed your new card your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, directly to the address you gave us.

September 30: The Post Office picked up mail containing your new card.

October 2: card was delivered to me by The Post Office.

 

and now I have the card on my hand! my husband is joining the navy full time soon so hopefully that'll help our next paperworks (i751 and/or naturalization). officially done for now though.

[Angelalfred21 0]

Wow congratulations 

[Jimmy Lee 31]

On 9/28/2020 at 1:40 PM, itscarly said:

Hi! I used a lot of vj information to filed for aos and I wanted to share with you my experience and my aos package.

 

I'm from Argentina and I came to America in November with a J1 visa (summer work travel program), after dating my husband for a year, we got married on May 7th. According to my visa, I had to go back home before June 30th and even though I married a US citizen and I knew if I overstayed it was going to be waived, I was still so worried that I filed for AoS asap (June 19th).

A few things I'm going to say before I talk about my application is that I think 50% was pure luck, it was filing at the right time and date. The other 50% making sure nothing in my application could make the officer doubt and ask for more information or evidence. I made sure everything was disclosed and explained, it must have been either a pain in the ### or a blessing for whoever that took my case cause it was 400 pages long lol. Also the fact that my office was Reno helped a lot, I went twice for biometrics and interview and there was no one, the parking lot was empty, so they're pretty low on cases there. I didn't get help from a lawyer 'cause I considered my case was simple, it wasn't worth the money, we were on lockdown so I didn't have much else to do but getting obsessed with sending the perfect application, visiting hundreds of VJs topics and watching youtube videos. 

 

Another thing, specifically for I130 is that I was scared because my husband and I are in our early 20s, we got married a year after meeting each other, 7 months out of those 12 we were in a long distance relationship, he still lived with his parents, we both had part time jobs, we don't own anything, so we had to prove our love by telling them our story. How meant to be we are, how we clicked instantly, how we talked 3 hours a day every day, how I told him he could come to visit me and the next day he went to get his passport and bought flight tickets to see me, how we can't imagine being away from each other, that we did it for 7 months and we don't want to do it ever again, how we have plans for the future, etc. Our bonafide evidence was full of stories and we attached them with tickets, passes, reservations, photos, invitations. By the time of the interview we did gather a lot of primary evidence and the officer that interviewed us was more than pleased.

 

 

 

This was my package main cover letter

 

 

I had to explain a few things when I filed:

1. During a road trip all my forms of identification were stolen, so I lost my passport with my visa stamp and my country ids. Thankfully, I was able to get an emergency passport and sent that in the package with an explanation of what happened and secondary proof that I was here legally such as letters from my sponsors, employers, job reviews and flight tickets.

 

2. I was given an extension of my visa because of the pandemic, so I sent a letter from my sponsor that explains the extension and extra information on why I was given this extension (the borders of my country were closed and all my flights were canceled)

 

3. My husband was a dependent of him mom for 2017 tax returns so we wrote a letter that his mom signed.

 

4. I944 was intense haha, we couldn't get IRS transcripts before sending the application because at that time IRS offices were closed, so we sent the biggest WE TRIED letter, where we stated that we received no answer from IRS so we were going to send 1040s and W2s.

 

5. We didn't have a credit score or report because none of us has credit cars, loans, car, leases, anything. We're still pretty young and we haven't thought all that out yet (we should soon). So we explained that, we sent transunion letter saying we didn't have any of that, screenshots of the experian website saying they couldn't find me and I tried to get a credit card online and I didn't qualified.

 

6. For Education, I did an evaluation of my college transcripts with a NACES authorized agency (IEE), also I graduated from college but I came to America before i could sign my diploma so I don't have my diploma with me and that's the way I can prove I graduated, what I sent to prove I graduated was a certified letter by my college that stated that I did in fact finish college. The evaluation agency wrote that my degree was incomplete because they didn't accept the certified letter but I sent everything in my I944, cause why not.

 

7.I didn't send proof I know how to speak Spanish because that's my native language and in my transcripts from school we don't call Spanish classes that, we call them Language classes. I wrote a letter swearing I know Spanish and that's it.

 

When I filed I was afraid that my husband's tax return were going to look bad, because in 2019 he made a little over the percentage he had to make to sponsor me, in 2018 he made half of that percentage and in 2017 he was a minor and was a dependent of his mom. Still I sent all that information because if I disclosed it first it means I'm ahead of any questions they can ask us. That's just my mindset, I know a lot of people believe it's better to just put the last tax return information and that's fine. Also when we filed, my husband was unemployed and so was I (pandemic related), so we sent his last pay stubs and that's all. (He did have a part time job but that didn't make enough to support me at that time and he didn't file for unemployment)

 

Another thing is that (PLEASE DONT DO IT) I worked in the past unauthorized, this was way before I met my husband and I didn't think of the consequences, I had no idea at some point it could come back to bite me. So, I disclosed it, I said from what date to what date and in I485 I said yes to working unauthorized and violating the terms of conditions of my nonimmigrant status.

 

 

So this was my timeline

 

 

and here's what I sent the June 2020 filers group and hour after the interview:

 

 

 

And that's it. Right now, I have a job offer and I'm waiting for my green card to arrive. I'm excited about the winter, being with my husband without having to think of visas, uscis, forms, is great. I did get only the conditional green card, so in 2 years I'll have to do this again hahah.

 

I hope this long post helps you, please let me know if you have any questions, this was my experience, probably had a few mistakes, it's not perfect, I was just very lucky this process went as smoothly as it did. Thank you thank you thank you VJ members for answering all my questions and giving me so much information!

 

 

 

 

Congratulations! I came to US with j1 visa too (2 year rule not applied) but my visa expired years ago. I just filed last month (without i-944). I got receipts from USCIS, waiting for RFIE (i-944). I disclosed the fact that I worked without authorization in i-485 too after my visa expired. I just wanna tell the truth. I am still nervous!

[Beyance 0]

Congrats to you and husband!! Did you put N/A in spaces that didn’t apply to you or left it blank?

[itscarly 114]

16 minutes ago, Beyance said:

Congrats to you and husband!! Did you put N/A in spaces that didn’t apply to you or left it blank?

Thank you! It was very intuitive honestly, I left blanks sometimes. I’ll leave some examples:

[Beyance 0]

Thanks a bunch 😊 

[SBML 34]

Congratulations to you and your husband! I'm glad it was so quick for you and everything went well!

 

Can I ask you something about your english studies? Did you evaluate your First Certificate diploma or did you send it as it is? I have the same one and I'm going to send the rest of my stuff to evaluate now and I was doubting if I should send that one too. 

[itscarly 114]

4 hours ago, SBML said:

Congratulations to you and your husband! I'm glad it was so quick for you and everything went well!

 

Can I ask you something about your english studies? Did you evaluate your First Certificate diploma or did you send it as it is? I have the same one and I'm going to send the rest of my stuff to evaluate now and I was doubting if I should send that one too. 

Thank you! I didn’t evaluate it, I just sent a copy of the certificate and a copy of what my result meant (it came with the certificate)

[TheAmelie 9]

Hi OP! 
I was also an au pair and I’m currently filling my aos, the form I-944 is kinda tricky and I wanted to ask if you sent your Tax Transcripts or your tax returns (the form we fill and then you can print it with the payment proof). Which one did you put in your package? As far as I remember au pair don’t get W2s 

[itscarly 114]

6 hours ago, TheAmelie said:

Hi OP! 
I was also an au pair and I’m currently filling my aos, the form I-944 is kinda tricky and I wanted to ask if you sent your Tax Transcripts or your tax returns (the form we fill and then you can print it with the payment proof). Which one did you put in your package? As far as I remember au pair don’t get W2s 

I sent tax returns and w2s. I wasn’t an au pair though 

[poohdakz 5]

On 9/28/2020 at 11:40 AM, itscarly said:

Hi! I used a lot of vj information to filed for aos and I wanted to share with you my experience and my aos package.

 

I'm from Argentina and I came to America in November with a J1 visa (summer work travel program), after dating my husband for a year, we got married on May 7th. According to my visa, I had to go back home before June 30th and even though I married a US citizen and I knew if I overstayed it was going to be waived, I was still so worried that I filed for AoS asap (June 19th).

A few things I'm going to say before I talk about my application is that I think 50% was pure luck, it was filing at the right time and date. The other 50% making sure nothing in my application could make the officer doubt and ask for more information or evidence. I made sure everything was disclosed and explained, it must have been either a pain in the ### or a blessing for whoever that took my case cause it was 400 pages long lol. Also the fact that my office was Reno helped a lot, I went twice for biometrics and interview and there was no one, the parking lot was empty, so they're pretty low on cases there. I didn't get help from a lawyer 'cause I considered my case was simple, it wasn't worth the money, we were on lockdown so I didn't have much else to do but getting obsessed with sending the perfect application, visiting hundreds of VJs topics and watching youtube videos. 

 

Another thing, specifically for I130 is that I was scared because my husband and I are in our early 20s, we got married a year after meeting each other, 7 months out of those 12 we were in a long distance relationship, he still lived with his parents, we both had part time jobs, we don't own anything, so we had to prove our love by telling them our story. How meant to be we are, how we clicked instantly, how we talked 3 hours a day every day, how I told him he could come to visit me and the next day he went to get his passport and bought flight tickets to see me, how we can't imagine being away from each other, that we did it for 7 months and we don't want to do it ever again, how we have plans for the future, etc. Our bonafide evidence was full of stories and we attached them with tickets, passes, reservations, photos, invitations. By the time of the interview we did gather a lot of primary evidence and the officer that interviewed us was more than pleased.

 

 

 

This was my package main cover letter

 

 

I had to explain a few things when I filed:

1. During a road trip all my forms of identification were stolen, so I lost my passport with my visa stamp and my country ids. Thankfully, I was able to get an emergency passport and sent that in the package with an explanation of what happened and secondary proof that I was here legally such as letters from my sponsors, employers, job reviews and flight tickets.

 

2. I was given an extension of my visa because of the pandemic, so I sent a letter from my sponsor that explains the extension and extra information on why I was given this extension (the borders of my country were closed and all my flights were canceled)

 

3. My husband was a dependent of him mom for 2017 tax returns so we wrote a letter that his mom signed.

 

4. I944 was intense haha, we couldn't get IRS transcripts before sending the application because at that time IRS offices were closed, so we sent the biggest WE TRIED letter, where we stated that we received no answer from IRS so we were going to send 1040s and W2s.

 

5. We didn't have a credit score or report because none of us has credit cars, loans, car, leases, anything. We're still pretty young and we haven't thought all that out yet (we should soon). So we explained that, we sent transunion letter saying we didn't have any of that, screenshots of the experian website saying they couldn't find me and I tried to get a credit card online and I didn't qualified.

 

6. For Education, I did an evaluation of my college transcripts with a NACES authorized agency (IEE), also I graduated from college but I came to America before i could sign my diploma so I don't have my diploma with me and that's the way I can prove I graduated, what I sent to prove I graduated was a certified letter by my college that stated that I did in fact finish college. The evaluation agency wrote that my degree was incomplete because they didn't accept the certified letter but I sent everything in my I944, cause why not.

 

7.I didn't send proof I know how to speak Spanish because that's my native language and in my transcripts from school we don't call Spanish classes that, we call them Language classes. I wrote a letter swearing I know Spanish and that's it.

 

When I filed I was afraid that my husband's tax return were going to look bad, because in 2019 he made a little over the percentage he had to make to sponsor me, in 2018 he made half of that percentage and in 2017 he was a minor and was a dependent of his mom. Still I sent all that information because if I disclosed it first it means I'm ahead of any questions they can ask us. That's just my mindset, I know a lot of people believe it's better to just put the last tax return information and that's fine. Also when we filed, my husband was unemployed and so was I (pandemic related), so we sent his last pay stubs and that's all. (He did have a part time job but that didn't make enough to support me at that time and he didn't file for unemployment)

 

Another thing is that (PLEASE DONT DO IT) I worked in the past unauthorized, this was way before I met my husband and I didn't think of the consequences, I had no idea at some point it could come back to bite me. So, I disclosed it, I said from what date to what date and in I485 I said yes to working unauthorized and violating the terms of conditions of my nonimmigrant status.

 

 

So this was my timeline

 

 

and here's what I sent the June 2020 filers group and hour after the interview:

 

 

 

And that's it. Right now, I have a job offer and I'm waiting for my green card to arrive. I'm excited about the winter, being with my husband without having to think of visas, uscis, forms, is great. I did get only the conditional green card, so in 2 years I'll have to do this again hahah.

 

I hope this long post helps you, please let me know if you have any questions, this was my experience, probably had a few mistakes, it's not perfect, I was just very lucky this process went as smoothly as it did. Thank you thank you thank you VJ members for answering all my questions and giving me so much information!

 

 

 

 

Hi! Your post was really helpful. I'm almost ready to file I-130 and I-485. I do have a question. When you filed yours, did out the I-130 and I-485 in a separate envelope?