US Immigration from Singapore

My brother (35) has a green card interview in Jakarta in a few weeks. He was in the US with a student visa but he graduated and his visa expired. He stayed in the US out of status for 2 years while waiting for the interview appointment. Now that he has received his appointment date, he has flown back to Jakarta to prepare for his interview. Is this a concern for the interview that he was out of status? He s now in Jakarta for the interview in a few weeks. He has taken the medical exam there. In the US, he lives with our mom by themselves. My mom is 72, just had knee replacements. She was a PR when she filed the application to sponsor him in 2016 but now is a citizen since 3 years ago. Any advice for a successful interview? Application submitted in 2016 when he was 26. He s not married

I've been reading the forums and but still not sure about what I should do re: taxes.

Husband (USC) says MFS is preferable (so he files, I don't) and much simpler because TurboTax apparently doesn't allow for us to do a MFJ.

For context, he has no income as he is a FT student.

I came on a K1 in August, AOS still pending. So I don't meet either the GC or substantial presence test. I do have a SSN.

Would there be any advantage in electing to be considered a resident alien and file taxes this round? (For example, I am looking to going back to school and to be considered for in-state tuition I have to be a resident for at least one year prior to enrolment but I doubt that would move back the clock or anything)

Or would it really be a lot easier for me to just not file taxes this year and leave it at that?

I don't really get the foreign income exclusion either - my home country does not have a tax treaty with US. If anyone can explain that more simply than the interactive tax assistant on the IRS site or the 99-page Tax Guide for Aliens (Publication 519) I would be so grateful.

Thanks for everyone's help and apologies for asking such numbskull type questions. I'm just hopelessly confused now.

Hi

I've received a courtesy email from USCIS for my interview prep for i485, to bring originals eg. Birth certificate, marriage certificate etc.

The other many items to prep are meant for i130 filers.

Are there other things to prepare? My husband and k2 child will be at the interview as well. Ive searched online and advice was to recap time-line of our relationship.

To start, marijuana is illegal in my country of origin.

When I was applying for my green card I admitted to trying marijuana when I was in my 20's (I'm 49 now).

I got my green card and have lived in the US for 5 years. I'm in the process of applying for citizenship.

What answer should I give to the question: "Have you EVER committed, agreed to commit, asked someone else to commit, helped commit, or tried to commit a crime or offense for which you were NOT arrested? Yes or No" given that I admitted to past marijuana use during the GC process?

We had a joint, petitioner and beneficiary interview for I-751 as a result of a pending N400. All is normal and we got the verbal approval, which then subsequently started the N400.

As the officer tried to approve the 751 in the system, there was a system error. We all moved on and we were told "hopefully" the 751 will be approved by the EOD.

It has been 2 weeks and the I-751 still pending on the case is being reviewed, etc. N400 stuck on interview is scheduled.

My question is, has anyone had their 751 stuck ? 2 weeks ? Is there a way to follow up without waiting the 120 days?