US Immigration from Iceland

My husband received his permanent resident visa in March, and since then he's moved over here and we've left my parents' house for our own place. We didn't change the address that his card would get sent to, however, thinking that it might cause more problems than just leaving it alone. Well, it turns out that was a mistake because my father lost his card. He remembers the letter coming to the house (although he thought it was from the state we live in, I had to explain that's not what the Department of State is) but now can't find it. I'm wondering if anyone else has been through this, and how long from filing the I-90 did it take to get their card? USCIS website estimates 9-11 months but they also say it takes that long to get the card in the first place and it actually only took about 2 months... I'm hoping the process is not so long, and not very stressful! I could just kill my father. I thought we were done with these damn forms for at least a few years!

Anyone here who has done AOS interview in Portland, Maine? (K1)

My I-485 case just updated to "ready to be scheduled for interview"! I am wondering how long we can expect to wait to be scheduled for the interview here in Maine since I have seen that in some states you wait months until it is actually scheduled.

I am still waiting for my EAD to be approved, pending 187 days now.. I contacted my senator's office again last week and they put in another inquiry and emailed me USCIS's reply this morning to me, and tonight we get this update. We'd prefer to have seen the EAD updated to "approved" but this is better than nothing after waiting for more than 5 months for any updates....! USCIS told the senator my I-485 was waiting for my background check to clear and that the I-765 is assigned to an officer and I should receive a notice shortly(we'll see about that). Just so surprised since my field office is supposed to working I-485 on January 2017, I filed Nov 2017.

Hey, sorry I am posting this most likely not in the correct place but I couldn't find the subforums for this, this site confuses me often.

I am on my 178th day waiting for my EAD and I received expedite instructions almost 2 weeks ago and faxed in my documents the day after. Does anyone know when I can expect a response from them with their decision? Does it takes weeks and weeks?

And according to my online account they have mailed me two letters with response to 2/4 service requests I've made, the first one was mailed April 10th and the other April 19th, I still haven't received anything in the mail.. Strange since my expedite instructions were mailed April 11th and got here April 16th. My address is up to date and a USCIS agent on the phone told me it takes the postal service up to 30 days to deliver letters... lolwhut?

So I am currently in my AOS process and filed for my EAD.

My NOA1 was November 2nd, had my biometrics Dec 7th, received a RFIE dec 4th and responded dec 7th.

There have been no updates since fingerprint fee was received, I still haven't received a response notice after they received my RFIE requested documents.

I have heard about people getting state senators to help, how does that work? I call them and what? I don't like talking to people on the phone when I have no idea what to say or do.

Getting very frustrated and impatient since I see plenty of people who filed 1-3 weeks after me who received their EADs already..

And I am also confused about how long my case has been pending. I thought I hit the 90 day limit today, but someone pointed out to me weekends and holidays don't count.. if that is true my cases have been pending only for 61 days.. 54 if they paused while they waited for the RFIE documents. So I can't make an actual inquiry until March 9th....?

Sigh.. I know this is not exactly K1 visa related but I just need to rant and get things off my chest and I honestly had no better idea where to go with my problems. Just need some advice how to stay positive when everything seems to suck.

I knew moving to the US and start a new life here would never be easy. Giving up my old life, job, family and friends and kinda starting from scratch, not being allowed to work and relying on my husband financially. But I guess our case is a bit more complicated than average I guess. And some days I honestly really struggle... And my husband does too. I don't struggle being with him at all, we love each other very much, but our circumstances are very depressing sometimes.

My husband went through a very rough divorce right around when we got to know each other and also filed bankruptcy less than two years ago with his ex wife. He lost his job shortly before I came to visit him for the first time and he decided a few months later to move back from the south to his home state to start over and try to find a job. So he had to move in with his father and stepmom and he started a year long job training program last September to change careers and he loves it. And I am really glad since he was miserable at his old job. I came here in September and we are staying with his parents since then until we are able to find our own place to live. I have no income of course since my EAD is still processing, my husband doesn't get paid for his training, only a housing stipend and he also gets a military disability since he is a disabled veteran, but his ex wife takes most of the money since he has to pay her alimony and child support.. And I am probably just gonna make 10-15$ an hour where we live with my education. I used to make over 30$ an hour at my old job, so coming here sometimes seem like a huge step down in quality of life. So it seems like we are not gonna be able to afford our own place any time soon.. We also need everything, we only own a bed that we bought when I got here, we need to purchase furniture etc and saving up money so far has not been successful since everything goes into bills, bankruptcy payments, child support, gas and fixing up the car we bought.

But we are very grateful for being able to live with my husband's parents for now.. But sometimes we struggle. His little teenage sister is a spoiled brat who manipulates her parents and most nights we get to listen to them fight and yell but she always gets her way in the end. And her parents wonder why she is such a brat when they tell her no but give in to her eventually. And that drama stresses us out. When I was a kid, we would never scream and fight with our parents. Me and my brothers fought between us like all siblings do but that was it. So I am not used to fighting like this. And my father in law is a difficult person. He is an angry miserable man who hates his life and is just angry at everything and seems to pick a fight with his teen daughter the rare moments when she is just minding her own buisness. He will complain about everything. He complains that me and my husband cost him money living with them and when we try to give him money to cover our electric expenses etc(which I think is totally fair of course, and I do housework around the house and cook dinner occasionally, but we can't really afford to feed 5 people all the time) he won't accept the money. He complains we eat food they prepare for everyone and he also complains when we make our own food. So there is no way pleasing him. And everything my husband does he does wrong in his eyes. My husband tells me he has treated him like that his whole life. And I hate it. Last night got extremely bad when my father in law had one of his hissy fits because my husband's sister made the comment that they always have the same stuff for dinner(she is a vegetarian so she limits her options a lot since they like meat and usually have sides of potatoes and beans, carrots or cabbage) and he just lost it and started yelling that nobody in this house appreciates anything he does, that she complains about the food, that me and my husband complain about the food(which we have never done BTW) and he just wishes everyone would vanish and everyone should off etc. He and his wife constantly get into fights about their daughter and they have talked about divorce. I honestly think she should leave him because she deserves better than that.

We just really want to have our own home, without all this stress and negative energy all around us. I hate not having a job. I do not function well without a routine. We live right outside a small town, not much to do here. And I don't have my own car yet, I don't like using the extra truck they have because my father in law will at some point about that. So I am pretty much stuck at the house doing nothing. I used to work about 200 hours a month and go to crossfit 5-6 times a week. I gave up crossfit shortly after we filed for my visa last year to save some money. And I loved doing it, finally found some kind of exercise that I didn't give up on and I lost a lot of weight, felt better, got stronger and more confident. I think about it every day how much I miss it. And I've been gaining weight for the last months since I turn to food when I am stressed out and feel down. I don't wanna go back to hating myself and be disgusted when I look in the mirror. Hopefully we will live somewhere near a crossfit gym. But we kinda live in middle of nowhere and my husband hates cities so we will never live in a city.

And my husband needs a back surgery, one of his discs is blown out and he started feeling pain last summer. His whole lower back is fused together due to a injury he got in the military. And a fusion will destroy the healthy discs remaining slowly over the years. He got a MRI in november and got a referral to a neurosurgeon who basically told him to off and that he is not gonna touch him and wouldn't meet him or even call him and nobody else bothered to call. He found out when he contacted the VA about a prescription refill. He got an appointment with pain management instead but I doubt they will do anything either, our state has a very strict narcotic policy. His appointment is at the end of the month, his pain gets worse by the day, we had to go to the ER two weeks ago because it got so bad. He need surgery and the ER doctor agreed and is gonna ask for a second opinion. But everything takes such a long time to process. And it's not gonna be a fun surgery. 8-12 weeks of healing and he won't be able to continue his program for that time and his monthly housing stipend is gonna disappear probably, limiting our income even more. I hate seeing him in so much pain and not being able to anything about it, I really wish I could.

And my husband's ex wife is a . They have two wonderful daughters together and she constantly uses them against him. They live 20 hours away since he moved back to his home state, she constantly makes up excuses why they can't talk on the phone and that Skype would not work on her phone etc. She is living with another man now and they bought a house together last summer, which is a good thing, he is actually a good man and seems nice, and we are glad she and the girls isn't living with her crazy parents anymore. But they are now calling their new stepfather daddy and it breaks my husband's heart of course. And she made it very clear to the girls they could NEVER call me mommy ever.. seriously. We are supposed to get the girls for the summer, that is the only time we get to see them since they are in school and get little time off and the travelling distance is so great. He only got them for 2 weeks last summer, they split the driving between them, but she said after she came to get them that they have to fly next time they come visit because they got so carsick(they were fine on the trip with my husband) and she won't allow a escort from an airline employee so her mother should fly with them. Yeah sorry we can't afford to fly a grown up person back and forth twice (unless she plans to stay with us for a few weeks LOL) and buy tickets for the kids.. So we have to figure out how to plan out the summer. And we want to have our own place by then because my husband's ex claims the girls have cat allergy and my inlaws have 3 cats(but they were fine staying in the house last summer). She just is a manipulative horrible person who only wants to suck money out of my husband(she doesn't work and never has, she always needs others to provide for her). And he just lets her walk all over him even though they are not married anymore. It sometimes makes me crazy..

So yeah.. pretty much my husband is the only positive thing in my life these days, and I am grateful to have him by my side. But he worries about me and says I don't smile very much and he worries I am just gonna give up and leave him. Which I never will, I know this will pass, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. It just sucks for now.

Anyone in similar shoes? Sorry for the long post, I just needed to vent.