US Immigration from Venezuela

Hello Forum, thank you for your help. Our process was pretty straightforward, thanks to this forum. We have a new question. We'd like to get my sister-in-law, Venezuelan living in Argentina, here on a TPS to work as a teacher for a few years. What is the best route to do this, please?

Hi everyone,

I became a U.S. citizen last year through the 3 year marriage green card process. I know that when you are a resident you have to file jointly in your taxes but now that I am u.s. citizen and my spouse is also a u.s. citizen, do we have to file jointly or can we file separately?

Thanks in advanced!

Has anyone renewed a Venezuelan passport recently? Is it possible to get an appointment that corresponds with our vacation times (we're both teachers) in Mexico or some other country with an open Venezuelan embassy? Is it possible to renew the passport without leaving the US? Her prorroga expired around a year and a half ago. Thank you.

Well after years of waiting, we finally had our prayers answered. My wife's Green Card came in the mail today. We started this process a long time ago, but my advice to anybody else waiting is to hang in there. We filed for the I-485 and I-130 back in April 2021, after going down the K-1 Visa route only to have it all stalled due to Covid. So we cancelled the K-1 process and started the AOS journey.

So it took about 32 months from the initial filing of the I-485/I-130 to getting the Green Card. Along the way my wife's EAD work card expired as well as the medical exam (only good for 2yrs and another $550 for the exam) and we actually reapplied for the EAD card in October 2023 and literally had the card in less then 10 days, I was amazed. This time the card was good for 5yrs but also had a "No travel Authorized" stamped on it, unlike the first card which did have the I-131 authorized travel.

We also did not get interviewed, so that does happen. We are also married 3yrs at this point so maybe that had some impact.

Anyway I just wanted to update my fellow Visa Journey peeps that there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you have any questions please fee free to write.

Cheers,

Don & Reina

I keep hearing of individuals who paid immigration lawyers to fill out the I-134 forms on their behalf to sponsor someone (from Venezuela) and that person receives a visa in a month or so. My understanding was that it was now a lottery system where everyone has an equal chance of getting selected. However the frequency of the success rate when a lawyer is involved though makes me believe that it is not really a lottery, or a fair playing field, and there is corruption going on that some wheels are getting greased somewhere.