US Immigration from Singapore

So my situation is just a little complicated, and I'm just wondering if I can get eyes on this to check if I've gotten the timeline right.

My American husband got a 2-year contract job in Vietnam. I am to move over to be with him but we underestimated how troublesome my 2 year conditional green card would be.

It expires March 10th 2025 but I plan to be in Vietnam with him already.

So the earliest I can apply for Removal of Conditions is December 10th 2024.

I believe I do not have to be in the US to file, but I need the actual filing receipt to reenter the US when my conditional green card expires.

I also believe I have to apply for a Reentry Permit because we plan to only visit family in the US once per year while my husband is working in Vietnam.

But I see that if I were to apply for the Reentry Permit now, it expires when my conditional green card expires, so there's no point. I need the whole 2 years it gives me.

I also see that for the Reentry Permit, I have to be physically present in the US for filing and my biometrics appt.

I believe this is the correct timeline where I can get everything approved safely, allowing me to stay in Vietnam for 2 years:

1. I fly off to Vietnam in August 2024

2. I get a family member in the US to send out my package for the Removal of Conditions on December 10th 2024 while I'm in Vietnam. I will have a physical address in the US.

3. I fly back to the US sometime in January 2025, under the 6 months red flag limit.

4. I should have gotten my Removal of Conditions filing receipt by then, and I can now safely apply for the 2 year Reentry Permit that should be now based on my pending 10 year green card right? I will also ask them to send the approved Permit to the US Embassy in Vietnam.

5. I wait for the Reentry Permit biometrics appointment.

6. I attend my biometrics appointment that's hopefully scheduled by March 2025.

7. I fly off to Vietnam.

8. I collect my Reentry Permit when it's approved at the US Embassy in Vietnam in late 2025 or early 2026.
   

It also takes 6-12 months for the Reentry Permit to be approved, so 4 questions:

1. Is my timeline correct?
2. If filed after I receive the receipt for Removal of Conditions, will my Reentry Permit be 2 years because it's based on my pending 10 year green card?
3. How risky is it to ask USCIS to send the approved Reentry Permit to the US Embassy in Vietnam?
4. Since it takes 9-12 months for the Reentry Permit to be approved, will the official filing receipt would suffice at immigration if we fly back to the US to visit family (in Dec 2025, I would have stayed about 9 mths in Vietnam)?

Would appreciate any thoughts. I can fly back to the US at any time if need be, it'll just be really troublesome.

Hello Pushbrk and VJ family!

I love seeing your advice and figured to reach out to you personally instead. Do let me know if I should open a new topic in Forum.

I have went through I130's forum but couldn't help but to worry.

Me and my fianc are planning to get married this October 2024 and he will petition upon me leaving US.

As I'm helping him to prepare the form, I'm not too sure if these evidence are enough? I have only met him once before in 2023 (spent 19 days with him) and the second time will be to marry him.

- Marriage certificate

-Call logs and text messages from Line app

- My flight boarding passes/I94 from SG to US (does tickets to phoenix zoo counts?)

- Photos of us (no family or friends), it would be possible to include the wedding pictures too.

-Receipts of gifts and wedding rings

- No hotel stay invoices as I would usually stay in his house.

- No affidavits either.

Do you think this will be sufficient?

Thank you

Yuyul

Hi there, yall have helped me greatly on my decision on K1 or CR1 visa.

Now, I would like to enquire a little further for my son.(I'm the mother and the foreign spouse).

My future husband is a USC, we are getting married before my son turns 18 years old.

Unfortunately, my son being a Singaporean, needs to serve his mandatory National Service for 2 years(this will be at 18 years old) before he can migrate. And for him, he may only renounce Singaporean citizenship upon reaching 21 years old.

I understand we will need to file another i130 for my son. Will this has to be before he turns 21? Should his petition I130 be approved, is he able to leave US for 2 years to complete his National Service in Singapore?

I was looking at the CSPA and am unsure about this.

As my plan would be for him to remain in Singapore and complete his National Service and while awaiting for his National Service to be completed, we could file the petition for him and if it is approved, we could bring him over to US.

How does it goes if he has to leave US while having a green card for 2 years?

I'm sorry if this question is all over the place

Hi there.

My first time being here.

My US partner and I am keen in the K1 visa.

I am from Singapore and a divorcee with a 14 years old son.

My partner has a previous drug trafficking case 10 years ago. He has yet to get his civil rights.

I understand there may be some issues as he has yet to get his civil rights, which meant that he won't have his US passport to apply for K1.

This can be done on his end, how wl the previous drug trafficking affect our case?

As for my son, I would definitely love to bring him over ,however it is shared custody with me having care and control.

The whole process to change custody to sole custody may well take a year.

How will K2 visa work in my favor?

Should I still go for K1 visa?

We are looking to apply in Oct 2024 as I will be in US a month before.

I m (Beneficiary) posting our experience for the DCF-EC process for IR1 through the Embassy in Singapore, as I benefitted tremendously from this forum, and wanted to pay it forward. I added in some more operational details/things I wish I knew beforehand.

Summary

• DCF exceptional circumstances requested due to the Petitioner s new job offer starting in 2 months
• USC Petitioner, with 2 USC children under 10, married over 8 years
• Time from request to visa in-hand: 67 days
• An especially big thanks to a previous post for Singapore
• The Embassy in Singapore was really efficient and responsive

Timeline

• Oct 1, 2023: E-mail Embassy to request DCF due to exceptional circumstances
  • E-mail outlining details of our situation (job change) with Petitioner s information attached, and requesting for assistance to file the I-130 locally. Later I realized there is a template on VJ here (can't find the link), but here's another one for a different country.
• Oct 2, 2023: Embassy responds
  • The Embassy had a template set of questions that we had to fill out, and many questions actually overlapped with the details we sent in the request letter
  • They asked for confirmation of having the Petitioner s original birth certificate, to which we scramble family to overnight the birth certificate to us
  • Their e-mail emphasizes that both Beneficiary and Petitioner need to have been resident in Singapore, and maintains status until filing date to be able to file locally
  • Some questions in their e-mail were not applicable to our case (e.g: questions about transfer instead of change of employment)
• Oct 2, 2023: Respond to Embassy with details
• Oct 3, 2023: Embassy responds that the request is under consideration
• Oct 3, 2023: Embassy allows local filing
  • Provided a list of items to bring (originals, copies, translations)
  • A filing date was given for 2 weeks later
  • Both Petitioner and Beneficiary are required to attend together
  • Unexpected: the Beneficiary s original birth certificate was included in a list of documents to bring, prompting my travel to get an original from country of citizenship (lost and a new one was needed)
  • At this point, I began the process to translate documents as well
• Oct 18, 2023: Petition filed with both Petitioner and Beneficiary present at the Embassy
  • Submitted I-130, I-130A, and documents at counter 7 to administrative clerk. Minimal documents requested, most were returned to us. We had prepared a thick binder as evidence of Bona Fide Marriage and Proof of Domicile, which they didn t ask for.
  • Called to counter 8 to meet with Consular Officer from DOS. CO reviews process, documents, returns our originals, confirms filing looks good and gives information on next steps (approval from USCIS, DS-260, medical and interview). Informed us that the I-864 isn t needed at this point (it was on the checklist from the Embassy), also that the Petitioner doesn t have to be in country anymore and can leave to start work. The rest of us could remain in Singapore as long as our passes allowed it.
  • Apparently November interview slots fill up fast due to quota resets. They were quite sympathetic of wanting to be minimally separated given the young kids.
  • We were given a Filing Acknowledgment Letter with an SGP Case Number.
  • Further action is pending background checks and approval from USCIS, and we were given an estimate of 2 days to 2 weeks.
  • We were also given a list of civil documents to start collecting. For police certificates that need a letter from a foreign authority (e.g. Singapore Police Force), we would have to wait until the USCIS approval letter and packet to be able to start the process.
• Oct 23, 2023: Correction in mailing address on Filing Acceptance Letter
  • E-mailed Embassy to correct the mailing address. The Embassy responded on the same day.
  • Tip: Check that the filing acceptance letter had the correct mailing address. There was an error on ours, hence this step. The next correspondence is by post!
• Oct 27, 2023: Receive I-130 approval and Packet 3 by post
  • We had been anxiously checking our e-mail inboxes/refreshing regularly only to find out it s by snail mail
  • The packet contains instructions on next steps: application instructions for the DS-260, arranging a medical exam, a letter to verify that a foreign authority is requesting Police Certificate (for countries that require it), a checklist to (snail) mail back to the Embassy which will initiate the appointment booking process
• Oct 29, 2023: DS-260 submitted, with confirmation on submission
• Oct 30, 2023: Begin process for other required documents
  • (Providing this to give an indicative time frame relative to the whole application process)
  • Request for Singapore police certificate appeal (timeline not included here, but it took about 5-7 days in total to the certificate in hand)
  • Scheduled medical exam
• Oct 31, 2023: Medical exam
  • (Providing this to give an indicative time frame relative to the whole application process)
  • Before the appointment could be made, the clinics needed additional information with passport, DS-260 confirmation, and Case Number. It's not as straightforward as just booking, as an FYI.
  • I needed several vaccines and it got pricey at their approved clinic (total was SGD1.2K), but it was fast. Needed to go to another location for the X-Ray.
• Nov 6, 2023: Ask Embassy if we can mail the checklist yet while Police Clearance if pending
  • Embassy responded on the same day advising to mail the checklist
• Nov 8, 2023: Checklist sent by same-day courier
  • Re-sent by private courier (scanned copies) as the local mail delivery/previous attempt from the 6th had some delays
• Nov 14, 2023: Receive e-mail to register on waitlist to schedule interview appointment
  • This was from the USTravelDocs portal, and approval is needed after submitting
• Nov 15, 2023: Request to Schedule has been approved e-mail
  • This allows the Beneficiary to select an interview slot
• Nov 15, 2023: Appointment Confirmed e-mail
  • E-mail confirmation sent
• Nov 24, 2023: Appointment reminder e-mail from the Embassy
• Nov 29, 2023: Interview
  • Arrived about 30 minutes early, and allowed to go inside to wait
  • IV applicants were seated in the back of the room until they were called up
  • Clerk called to counter to collect additional paperwork (civil documents), given domestic violence pamphlet, and instructions on how to the Interview Fee, then return the receipt to clerk
  • Called up by the CO for interview. I was asked a few basic questions about my education, where I attended university, how the Petitioner and I met, where/when we got married, age/birthplace/citizenship of children, and summarize domestic violence rights of immigrants
  • Informed me that we could move forward, and that my passport would be held for stamping and it would take 3-5 days
  • In total this took about 1.5 hours in the Embassy
• Dec 7, 2023: (Midnight) Notification of passport ready for collection at pick-up point
  • Passport collected, and returned items included a sealed manila envelope (do not open!) to be handed over to the immigration officer upon arrival to the US
  • There were also instructions on how to pay an Immigrant fee, which was recommended prior to departure

We flew the week after for reunification! At entry, the immigration officer opened the sealed envelope, and the process did take slightly longer than others going through. The officer informed me I would be able to study, work, enter/exit as a permanent resident from that point on, and took my most recent address on where to mail the physical green card.

Hope this helps, and good luck to all!