K1 AOS adjustment many years later

[Crazy Cat 39,461]

5 minutes ago, thecanadianmrs said:

I can do our taxes and find our current adjusted gross which might be higher than I think.

Why is that important?  I wouldn't delay.  If your gross income is below or even marginally above the PL, get a joint sponsor as @OldUser stated. Good luck.

Edited December 30, 2022 by Crazy Cat

[thecanadianmrs 2]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the help. I don't feel so helpless going into this anymore. 

 

One more question, can I use my husbands last name as my legal name and my maiden name as other names used? Is that an easy way to change my name. I mean, I have no ID or anything right now anyway, so seems like a good time to legally change my name. 

[Crazy Cat 39,461]

16 minutes ago, thecanadianmrs said:

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the help. I don't feel so helpless going into this anymore. 

 

One more question, can I use my husbands last name as my legal name and my maiden name as other names used? Is that an easy way to change my name. I mean, I have no ID or anything right now anyway, so seems like a good time to legally change my name. 

Yes.  Fill in the I-485, I-131, and I-765 with your married name as last name.  Your marriage certificate is a legal name change source document.  USCIS allows benefits applications (Green Card) to be in any combination of family names on the marriage certificate. 

 

Mary Smith (maiden Name) is new immigrant:

Mary Smith marries John Jones

On immigration paperwork, Mary can use any combo of the last names such as:

Mary Smith

Mary Jones

Mary Smith Jones

Mary-Smith-Jones

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Crazy Cat

[Lemonslice 4,570]

Reminder that Canada offer consular services to its citizens, and they do help citizens renew/obtain passports when IDs are unavailable (they will guide you on which documents to get in order to get a passport - you can find the diplomatic mission covering your state here: https://www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/us-eu/index.aspx?lang=eng).  As OldUser wrote, please stay on top of it from now on.

 

[Cathi 5,618]

Stop focusing on adjusted income when literally the only number that matters is GROSS income. Period.

Also, just because you're an "unassuming 5'0" person" and your don't live near any border does NOT mean that you won't have an encounter with the police in some way, shape or form. I'm shorter than you (not sure why your height matters) and someone ran a stop sign and hit my car. An accident that had nothing to do with my height yet the police were involved (and I'm still not sure what your height has to do with any of this). File everything yesterday and worry about the details later, the wait time is long.

[Lemonslice 4,570]

On 12/30/2022 at 4:38 PM, thecanadianmrs said:

Hello all, 

 

I will try to compress this as much as possible. I am the immigrant spouse from Canada. I got my K1 back in 2015 and came to the US, we married within our 90 days and all was fine. Then life went nuts. My husbands family had a massive breakdown and things got crazy so we put off filing our AOS. (I've seen the story of the traffic stop, I get it, I have been lucky) Anyway. We've had years of craziness of so much going on, we've both lost our fathers, and 5.5 years ago, we had our daughter who started school this year. I haven't worked and have raised our daughter all has been great with that. Got her into school, no issues there either. However, our life is finally calm again and I know I need to get the AOS done. However, there are a few little snags in it all. 

 

1. My original passport both expired and got damaged, plus my Canadian ID expired because I didn't renew it before moving, because none of the crazy stuff was supposed to happen. Again, my fault, I should have just thought ahead to any issues, not just looking to happily ever after. So getting my passport renewed was an issue, and when I had to send it back to them, because it was damaged, despite me saying I had to have it back, and sending a note with it, I did not indeed get it back. So my Visa is missing now. I do of course have copies of it from my K1 stuff, but still. Is this going to be an issue? I have no ID that is not expired because the Canadian government only gave me a passport that didn't have the normal expiration. Good times. 

 

2. The affidavit of support. My husband, when you calculate his salary from that, is more than enough for the 3 of us. However, this adjusted gross stuff changes that. Because of the insane cost of health insurance, it drops his gross by like 15k bringing us just under the poverty threshold. Is this going to be an issue, or if we send paystubs/get a letter from his employer stating he's a fulltime employee with his hourly wage, will that work? (I miss the Canadian health care system, but that's another story)

 

3. Will I get the 10 year green card? Will the years I've been here count towards anything, or will everything begin once I get approved? If I go for citizenship, that I assume is after I get the green card for some years? I also assume this means I will get to skip the ROC stage of things? 

 

4. Any unexpected things I'm missing? Really I just want some form of ID in this country now that life is good and you know, be able to get a background check and volunteer at my daughters school. Also, not get deported and removed from my kid, you know?

 

And again, yes, I understand I should have done it sooner, but life sucks sometimes. I read years back that as long as you're married in 90 days, you're good, so I didn't really think much of it and just went on with life. Anyway, I truly appreciate any advice/answers. Thanks! 

Any update on your situation?  Which steps were you able to complete so far?

[ChelseaJanelle 3]

I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong. But i believe if you are required to do biometrics, you will need a valid government issued ID. 
My husband is Canadian as well and we were able to connect with someone at the Canadian consulate (in Chicago for us) who helped him with the process/paperwork to renew his expired (and damaged) passport. 

[OldUser 5,037]

24 minutes ago, ChelseaJanelle said:

I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong. But i believe if you are required to do biometrics, you will need a valid government issued ID. 
My husband is Canadian as well and we were able to connect with someone at the Canadian consulate (in Chicago for us) who helped him with the process/paperwork to renew his expired (and damaged) passport. 

What's the issue? Bring the valid Canadian passport to biometrics appointment.

[ChelseaJanelle 3]

41 minutes ago, OldUser said:

What's the issue? Bring the valid Canadian passport to biometrics appointment.

The OP stated in one of their responses that they will get the passport renewed once they have their GC, so i am assuming it still is expired. Which makes it no longer “valid”. It sounds like they do not have valid govt issued ID. 
So as someone who has been in similar circumstances, i was recommending they contact the closest consulate to initiate the renewal process outside of Canada. 

[OldUser 5,037]

34 minutes ago, ChelseaJanelle said:

The OP stated in one of their responses that they will get the passport renewed once they have their GC, so i am assuming it still is expired. Which makes it no longer “valid”. It sounds like they do not have valid govt issued ID. 
 

I don't understand why OP decided to lose 3 months. The passport renewal could have been initiated 3 months ago without contacting embassy / consulate. Unless they hit a roablock somewhere.

My December 2022 response mentioned the link to get it started.

 

 

[ChelseaJanelle 3]

My response was was only an attempt to be helpful and not judge or speculate on their circumstances. They may have already started that process, as i realize my commenting on this was months after the original post. 
 

 

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

I don't understand why OP decided to lose 3 months. The passport renewal could have been initiated 3 months ago without contacting embassy / consulate. Unless they hit a roablock somewhere.

My December 2022 response mentioned the link to get it started.

 

 

 

[Boiler 43,636]

We do not judge