US Immigration from Scotland

My fianc and I are in the process of getting our K1 visa. We just received our approval of our petition (NOA2) and are waiting for our application to be sent to the US embassy in London. My fianc happened to stumble upon a thread here on visa journey from 2019 where an individual was denied their K1 after having a no live trace on ACRO and a minor possession of marijuana (one joint) on his subject access report from 2011.

My fianc lives in Scotland and remembered when he was 17 or 18, he got a ticket for having a single marijuana joint on him. This was about 12 years ago, he was a teenager, and he truly didn t even remember until seeing this post.

All that said, we don t have his ACRO report yet, so we don t even know what it will say. But we re both just really anxious - we are definitely planning to consult an immigration lawyer if he does have this on his subject access report. I m waiting to pay for a lawyer consultation until I have details about the ticket/fine as I m sure that would affect their advice. In the meantime- has anyone had experience with getting approved with no live trace and a marijuana charge on their SAR? Is this an automatic refusal? Does the fact that it was 12 years ago matter?

I really appreciate any insight - I know we have to wait to see what the ACRO actually says but given the wait times on those right now, it would be nice to have some peace of mind.

Did anyone file N400 successfully after failing to register with selective service? Totally unintentional but understanding of the consequences. I can either file now and try mitigating it with a personal statement, or wait until I reach 31 where the issue cannot be considered for Citizenship purposes. Grateful for any experience here!

On 1/29/2023 at 7:39 AM, Mike E said:

People under age 18 cannot file N-400.

If you can provide original evidence of legal and physical custody, then your daughter will immediately become a U.S. citizen once either of her parents becomes a U.S. citizen, provided she is still under age 18 at time her parent naturalizes.

Each parent should make copies, front and back of their green cards now. The green cards are expected to be taken at naturalization.

After a parent naturalizes, that parent can apply for the daughter s passport and passport card by including the following with the passport application:

* marriage certificate of parents (evidence of legal custody in traditional nuclear families)

* birth certificate of daughter listing the parents as the same people in the marriage certificate

* naturalization certificate of parent

* proof the daughter and parent live at the same address (evidence of physical custody). Start gathering this now. It is harder than it looks.

* green card of daughter

Provide an original (except for drivers licenses and State id cards) and photo copy of each piece of evidence

Make a complete copy of everything you send, front and back.

Do not expect the green card to come back. If it goes not, preserve any note the passport agency provides that says it kept the green card. Alternatively, you might get the green card back with a demand that you return the green card to USCIS. Ignore that demand for the moment. Expect the other original evidence to come back.

Depending on how long your daughter is without her green card and passport or passport card, you might need to get an ADIT stamp on her foreign passport from USCIS as an alternative I-551.

Once her passport or passport card comes back, file N-600 to get your daughter an original certificate of citizenship. This is gold standard evidence of U.S. citizenship that will be accepted in situations where a passport or passport card are not:

* your daughter is denied a passport or passport card renewal in the future. Causes can include failure to pay child support, criminal record, a history of losing passports, etc.

* the passport agency processing times for renewals go crazy as they did when WHTI was implemented, or when travel bans started to end after year 1 of the pandemic emergency. A certificate of citizenship never expires.

* security clearance for sensitive work for the federal government

* certain roles in the U.S. armed forces and federal civil service

* state DL (when a dmv cannot verify her citizenship with SAVE, some states will bypass SAVE with a certificate of citizenship)

* social security card (there is a classified portion of the SSA policy manual that sometimes requires citizens to produce a certificate of citizenship)

* petitioning a family member for a green card

* registering to vote online in some states

There are examples of the above where a passport or passport card sufficed. And there are counter examples where it didn t. Regardless as you can imagine, providing the evidence decades after the fact can be hard. It is best to address this while the evidence is hot.

The evidence needed to apply for N-600 is a copy of everything you sent to get a passport and passport card plus:

* a copy of the note saying the passport agency kept the gc

* copy of the daughter s passport or passport card

N-600 should be filed online so that originals are not mistakenly sent

At the N-600 interview, bring all original evidence. At that time, you can expect to surrender your daughter s green card. Or USCIS might request it separately. I would not surrender her green card until the certificate of citizenship is in hand.

Thanks this is what I was looking into.

I have four children who got their GCs when I did. Three will be over 18 by the time we can apply. They will have to submit their own applications yes?

My younger daughter doesn't live with me ( she is in a facility) but I support her financially and have legal custody etc. Will she be covered under mine?

Your advice appreciated

Helen

Hello all - my wife and I submitted a concurrent I-130 and I-485 in September, and I was recently approved for work and received my EAD. On the USCIS website under the I-485, there is a courtesy notice for us to submit the medical report dated September. But the notice also says to not submit anything until we receive an RFE, or a notice for an interview as it may delay our case. I recently got the medical done and I have the sealed and certified envelope, but USCIS hasn't sent any additional notices.

There is the option online to upload unsolicited evidence. Would it be good to upload the copy of the medical report we received with maybe a cover sheet explaining I will send in the certified and sealed copy by mail? Or should I just wait to hear from them? What confused me initially is that I saw the courtesy notice regarding the need for the medical, but then once my EAD was approved, the online status changed to "USCIS is actively reviewing" and they said in another notice that we were good to go and nothing was needed at the time.

Any advice is very much appreciated. Thank you

I'm finally applying for my citizenship.. But I do have a question on the part where it says Your Family, the children part! For that part is it just me that puts down my child's name or do I need to also put my husband's child's name there too?