US Immigration from Australia

Our experience in Los Angeles for citizenship interview... we have been married 12 years on 10 year green card, no tickets or anything, so it was a pretty simple procedure.

It only took 3 weeks get the interview date after filing, I was shocked. I put together a lot of paperwork:

Appointment letter

Passport

Green Card 10-year

Selective Service paper

Marriage Certificate
US Citizen Spouse's Birth Certificate
US Citizen Spouse's driver's license

Lease Agreement

6 months of bank statements

6 months of electric bills

Medical Insurance ID cards

2 years of Tax Transcripts

They didn't even ask to see any of it... felt like a waste of paper... but wanted to be prepared.

Interview day:

Parked at Aiso Parking lot, 5 minute walk to the building and affordable. The appointment was 7:55 and we got there around 7:20, there was a huge line to the building. A security guard told us to go stand in line and I got confused, walked back and asked him if this was the correct line and he was very condescending and rude to me!! I couldn't believe it. Completely unnecessary. The line was so long I was worried we wouldn't be able to make it there on time if we couldn't even get into the building. However a different security guard start pulling people of the line and walking us to a different entrance, I do not know how they could tell who needed to go where... We had to wait to get checked in with security, and it was very thorough. Similar to TSA for flights, you have to take everything out of your pockets and put them in a bin, which gets scanned, separate bins for each electronic device... my husband had to take off his belt and watch, ect... after that, we were allowed into the building.

My husband had his biometrics taken at the window, then we had to go into a different room to wait. We waited about 30 minutes until his name was called, then he went in for his interview.

The officer was very unfriendly and humorless, he did not want to chat at all. My husband tried making friendly conversation but he told him he did not want to talk, and after he passed he got sent out quickly. However, he did pass but it would have been a lot more pleasant with just some common courtesy...

My husband can't remember each question from the civics test that he was asked, but from what he could remember:

Who is the founding father of our country?
How many supreme court justices are there?
Why did the pilgrims come to this country?

Why was the civil war fought?

What is the longest river?

The officer did not say whether he passed or failed, continued on with the written test, where he had to write "California has a lot of people" or something similar, my husband can't quite remember because he was so nervous. After the civics and english test he went through the questions on the form again, then said he was done. The officer didn't look at anything that was brought except the Selective service form and green card. My husband had to go take a new photo, which was about a 40 minute wait, longer than the actual interview.

After that we were done, now my husband just has to wait for his swearing in because he changed his name and that's a wrap. The whole thing took about 2 hours.

Hope this helps someone; wish everyone could have been a little friendlier but water under the bridge now I'm just happy he passed.

Hello, it has been a while since I have posted on here. I am asking on behalf of a friend who has an unfortunate situation. He is a United States Citizen, she is from Colombia. Their relationship did not prosper to marriage, however they had a kid together, she lives in Colombia. He lives in the U.S.

She is wanting $1,500 - $2,000 per month in child support plus U.S. citizenship to claim social security for the child as it was born with an incapacity. (which altogether would be $2,000-$3000 per month with child support and social security) They have not been able to come to an agreement due to what she is demanding.

My U.S. citizen friend believes she is taking advantage of the situation with a money grab using the child as she also receives benefits from Colombia.

She has a current tourist visa and keeps threatening my friend she will come to the U.S., go to court, and ask for child support plus make the judge give the child U.S. citizenship. She also mentioned that she wants his house as well (they were never married).

In my honest opinion, I believe that since she is from Colombia, and the child is Colombian born, that this would be a situation for the courts of Colombia to resolve and not the U.S.

Can a U.S. family court judge make the father give U.S. citizenship to the child? Or his limitations are just child support according to child support tables based on his income.

Thank you

My wife is a citizen of Singapore, a permanent resident of Australia, and a green card holder in the U.S. She arrived in the U.S. on a K-1 visa, and we successfully adjusted her status (I-485). She is on a temporary green card, and we have a letter from USCIS stating that its validity has been extended into 2025 (48 months past our I-751 filing date). We have been waiting over two years for her Removal of Conditions (I-751).

For several reasons, we intend to move back to Australia next month. We can t postpone this move further due to Australia's Resident Return Visa (RRV) rules. Because my wife has been outside Australia for over 4 years, the Australian government has told us that they will require her to get another visa if we delay the move further.

Currently, we are not considering this to be a definitely permanent move. We need to try living in Australia first and determine if living there will be a better fit for us. We need to sell our house and cars to be able to buy a house and car(s) in Australia, so for now our ties back to the U.S. will primarily be my job (as a full-time contractor of a U.S.-based company) and my parents (who live here). If our house here does not sell, we will still own it and will pursue renting it out. We will also continue to file U.S. tax returns and Australia tax returns when we have become tax residents there.

I have seen some topics here at VisaJourney (like this one) about this type of move, but they are from years ago. I am not sure if the laws have changed.

I am trying to find out how she can get back to the U.S. if we need to come back. So far, she got an I-131 combo card (EAD/AP) during the Adjustment of Status process, and she has already had biometrics taken for Removal of Conditions.

1. What is the re-entry permit that we need to get for my wife? (Is this the same as either the I-131 Advanced Parole for the combo card from our I-485 process, or the Returning Resident Visa for the U.S.?)
2. Does my wife already have this re-entry permit based on having a conditional green card (plus USCIS s extension letter and an I-551 Extension stamp in her passport)?
3. How long does my wife need to be in the U.S. for this re-entry permit to be processed? (She already had biometrics taken as part of the I-751 process.) Can we make the deadline of moving to Australia by a month from now? If not, what is our best option?
4. Can my wife be outside the U.S. while the re-entry permit application is being processed?
5. Is my wife s (future) job with an organization based in Australia or the sale of our house a red flag? We most likely do have a place to stay temporarily if we need to come back to the U.S.
6. Do we need to buy round-trip flight tickets to Australia? (One-way and round-trip to Australia are currently about the same price. But I don t see why we should get another ticket to come back to the U.S. when we would need a round-trip ticket from Australia in order to make a trip back here.)
7. Will changing our mailing address with USCIS to my dad s address have any tax implications for us? (His state has state income tax; our current state does not.)
8. What would happen to our ongoing I-751 application if we leave the U.S.? Will it still be processed?

I was wondering if anyone has renewed their US work visas with prior 221g history. I was given 221g in June 2022 at London Consulate (It was a renewal) and they asked me to submit last 15 years of details of my life. I submitted that information right away and exactly one month later they issued me visa. Now, my renewal is approaching in few months and I m little stressed out. Has anyone else been in this situation before? Any tips/suggestions? I tried looking up information about my case and didn t find anything. If you have any information please let me know. Thank you

Hi i need to file my AOS within the next week. Adjusting from my K1 and have a few questions if anyone can help, they might seem a bit silly but i just want to make sure im filling them in correctly. Also I am still waiting on my marriage certificate, will this have my married surname on it?

I-485:

current legal name- do i use my now married surname for this and then put my maiden name in other names you have had? Assuming the name i use if i use my married name will be whats going to be on my green card when issued?
then for immigration history details it asks for passport number on arrival, travel document number on arrival, expiration of passport or travel document and country that issued passport or travel document- question is do i use passport or k1 visa details for this section or does it not matter which one i use?

status on form I94- would i write k1?

what is your current immigration status ? Do i write k1?
And to sign off on the form, if i want to use my new married surname do i use a signature with that name or do i use my maiden name / usual signature as it is what is on my passport? Sorry if these sound dumb, I ve not had to change my name before.

I-765:

full legal name- do i use my now married surname

again asks for my immigration status on arrival which is k1 and current immigration status- still k1 as i am still to file my AOS etc? And same with the signature i should use to sign off on

I-131:

name i use (does not ask for previous used names)

Part 7- Advanced parole travel info?

i dont have any trips planned so do i still fill this in, want it just incase of family emergency mainly ?

and finally

I-693:

i had my medical and all my vaccinations ticked off complete before my k1 interview and have my DS3025 to attach to this.
what parts of this form do i complete and not complete.

if anyone can help clarify would be great. Thanks