US Immigration from Australia

Hello. Although I am not yet at the K1 Visa interview stage, I am hoping to possibly have some insight in regards to questions that I have.

Back in 2011, I left my last place of employment, due to deteriorating working conditions, personal family issues and my own well-being. As it goes, I have not been employed since then. During that time I became an unofficial carer for my son, which continued over the next ten years (or more). It is possible that I will soon become a carer for one of my parents. This time hopefully receiving a payment for doing so. Since around 2012, I have been receiving a Government welfare payment, which is my sole form of income.

Which brings me to my questions.

1: Is it possible that due to my lack of employment for quite some time, that my visa application may be rejected at the interview? I do plan to be completely honest with any questions that I am asked regarding this, as to be otherwise is just simply futile.

2: Is volunteer work acceptable at all? As I will be taking up some volunteer work within the next week or two. Or is that regarded as non-relevant when it comes to the Consular Officer?

3: Finances: What is considered as an acceptable amount of money that I should have to take with me to the US, if I am asked during my interview? Could having less than $5000AU (as an example) be seen as not enough? My fiance will of course be sponsoring me.

I hope this all makes sense, as it's nearing 2am here.

Hi

Can anyone explain what the actual process is for getting a US drivers license in Utah?

I am Australian, with a full open drivers license for a car in Australia. I also have a International Drivers permit.
My understanding is once I land in Utah in a couple weeks, I am required to obtain a Utah License as a resident of that state.

Do I need to redo all the driving tests, road rules and log books?
Or am I just doing the road rules and paying a fee?
or do I need to do testing?

Basically, how much of a pain in the neck is it to get a Utah license as an Aussie with a normal Aussie car license.

Thank you for your help.

RM.

Hi all!

Thanks so much for all the wisdom and insights shared. Some of my questions have been asked before but the posts were old so I thought I'd check again to get the most recent information. Here they are:

• My husband (petitioner) has started receiving EDD unemployment insurance due to COVID- what should we enter for My Current Individual Annual Income ?

• How to calculate current income in this situation? I read that when self employed you use the income from the last tax return?

• Can we combine my income as a contribution to household income?

• I was told that because we have a joint sponsor my husband s i864 is not overly important. Is this true?

• Will this contribute negatively on the basis of concerns around becoming a public charge?

• Is USCIS understanding regarding COVID s impact on employment?

• The joint sponsor is my Mother In-Law and she is now retired. What are the best documents for her to provide?

• Can we just bring a copy of her passport as she lives a 9 hour drive away?

• Our interview is February 9th and I m concerned we may not have sufficient evidence for co-mingling of finances. We don t have a joint account because I ve only been working a few months and not earning much plus that s not how we manage our finances. Is this essential? I m guessing it s too late now for that.

• The official co-mingling documents we have are three joint leases, shared auto-insurance, AAA, joint filing tax transcript, we could get joint utilities (or try if possible) and we bought a TV together. Is this sufficient?

• Do we need to bring all original forms, photos, messages with us or just new ones?
  
  Thank you!

Hi All!

My fianc (K-1 Visa) is in Melbourne and we have our interview coming up. Based on the current border restrictions, it looks like it would be easy enough to get into NSW but a permit would be needed to get back into Vic.

How have other Vic residents working around this? There seems to be an option for getting a permit for transiting through NSW, which when you further look into seems to apply for a day trip into NSW.

We also recognize that once you get back it is recommended to get tested and self quarantine at home. This seems reasonable and doable without issue.

After waiting for so long for this appointment we are reluctant to cancel or postpone.

I am curious to know how other folks have navigated these restriction.

Thanks,

Hi there.

Been checking this forum religiously all year.

My N-400 application was accepted back in March 2020. Then... the pandemic hit the US.

I made a heartbreaking decision to rush back to Australia in April 2020, before the borders closed, after my father was diagnosed with liver cancer.

At the time, I never imagined I'd be away from the US for over six months. I figured in a month or so the worst of the pandemic would be over and I could return now the borders were reopen.

But this never happened. It's Jan 2021. Australia is still enforcing a travel ban to the US. My dad is sick, but fighting. And I'm watching on the news every day as stories of Covid running wild in California play out.

I've heard of stories of US citizens managing to get back to the US with special permissions -- but the wait to return can 4-6 months because of the tough border measures.

It's an unprecedented thing in an unprecedented time -- and I've somehow found myself in the perfect storm of it all.

After MONTHS of nothing from USCIS, and zero help from the US consulate in Sydney, I got a biometric reuse notice in December 2020. Then yesterday (Jan 4), I got a notice that my interview has FINALLY been scheduled for Feb 10, 2021. Progress. Sort of.

I'm really stressed and confused about what to do now.

I don't want to risk being locked out Australia during my father's final days. But I'm also upset because I've lived and worked in the US since 2009 (first on 01s then an EB1). I pay my taxes. I've kept up rent on my apartment in the US, even though I've been unable to get back to it for over a year. Getting naturalized means so, so much to me after all these years being treated as an almost equal in the US.... but never a real equal.

If I request another interview date because of the above mentioned fears, I'm might be at risk of having been out of the country for over 12 months (remember - I left in late March 2020). Which - I'm guessing is an automatic denial.

In which case -- is there any point?

Jumping on a plane right now, with California as it is, to attend a N-400 interview whilst the state is in complete lockdown seems utterly insane.

Is anyone else experiencing something similar?

Do you know if USCIS is still drawing such a hard line of physical presence requirements at a time when almost all international air travel has been grounded???

I know there rules and what the website lists as conditions for N-400. I've been over the requirements a thousand times. But surely, in times like these, there must be special considerations taken?

If this was 2019, I could have gone back to the US multiple times. I wouldn't risk losing a parent and not being there for their funeral. I wouldn't be risking my own health, and others, with air travel. But it's a whole different world in 2021.

And if I withdraw my application (like my family keep asking me to)... I'm back to needing to wait four years before I could apply again because of all this.

I've been grappling with this and making myself sick with worry for months and months now.

Any suggestions? Ideas??? Please. I'd be so grateful. Grateful enough just sharing this story with people who might understand what the hell keeps me up at night....