US Immigration from Vietnam

Hi all, good evening! I've been helping my wife gather our documents for her naturalization application. She is the applicant, I am the USC.

So far we have the following, other than the application form itself:

REQUIRED DOCS
- Her green card + her acceptance letter
- Our marriage certificate
- My birth certificate (proving my citizenship)
- My divorce decree

BEST SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
- Tax return transcripts from the last 3 years, we filed MFJ
- Utility bills with both names on it
- Health insurance with both names on it
- Auto insurance with both names on it
- Homeowner insurance with both names on it
- Property tax bills with both names on it (hers was a shortened version of her legal name)
- Beneficiary designations with her name on it
- Her own bank and credit card statements (not joint, but shows the same address we lived at for 3 years, and she is an authorized CC user)
- Birth certificate and CRBA for our child (both names are on both docs)
- My driver s license and her REAL ID learner s permit (both show the same address)
- Mortgage deed with both of our names on it (waiting for the corrected deed with her full legal name, it should be ready in a week or so)
- Preschool enrollment papers for our child, both names on it
- Plane tickets for POE in June 2022 as proof we came here together as a family
- Change of address form submissions and confirmation receipts (both AR-11 from her and I-865 from me)
- About 10 photos of our life together in a single pdf

OTHER EVIDENCE (that I'm leaning on not submitting)
- shared cell phone plan

- shared Amazon Prime family account

- a work order/receipt for a home appliance purchase that I let her take the lead on I mention this only because it shows a paper trail that helps link her finances to mine.

Now here are my questions:

1a) Is it a bad that we don't have a joint bank account? We honestly never felt the need for one. But we have everything else. Is that enough to overcome not having a joint account?

1b) Should we bolster the case for our financial co-mingling by submitting our shared consumer stuff? Thinking stuff like shared Amazon Prime, family cell phone plan, etc. But at the same time it feels like overkill to me.

1c) Is a Will and Power of Attorney helpful in the absence of a joint bank account, or is it not going to add much to what we already have?

2) Are we required to submit passport style photos? Some places say you do, but other places say only if we're applying from outside the U.S. which we're not. We plan to file online if that helps.

3) We have NOT been out of the U.S. for longer than 6 months at any time since we all came here in 2022, but we DID take a 3-week trip to her home country to visit her family last year. The N-400 form does ask if we have taken any trips, so should we attach plane tickets showing a round trip along with our supporting evidence? Just to make sure there is no question that we weren t out of the country longer than 3 weeks.

4) Last thing, we just found out my wife is pregnant and we're expecting our second child sometime early December. That's a little over 7 months away so there's a non-zero chance that they might schedule an interview or oath ceremony at the same time she would give birth. Generally how lenient is USCIS on rescheduling for reasons around giving birth?

THANK YOU for getting this far, I know it's a lot but I'm very grateful you read all this and I hope to hear from you if you have any insights!

My Vietnamese Wife's name consists of 4 Names (Last Name, Middle Name, First Name #1 First Name #2). Example: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang
Essentially, her Vietnamese first name is "Thu Trang".

On her K-1 Visa, I-94 Entry Doc, Foreign Passport, and Marriage Certificate, it lists her Last Name as "Nguyen" and Given Name as "Thi Thu Trang".
She would like to go by "Trang" (First Name #2) on her future ID and documents, instead of "Thi Thu Trang", as listed on her current paperwork.

During her entry into the U.S. a couple of months ago, customs officers were calling her "Thi" instead of "Trang".

Rather than a Name Change, can we just change her name Name Ordering, so that it can become:

Last Name: Nguyen
Middle Name: Thi Thu
First Name: Trang

Or do we need to wait until her N-400 Citizenship Process starts until we can start the name ordering change?

Thank you so much!

- Tony

Before I call an immigration lawyer, I figured I would ask this here.

In 2020 I (USC) filed an I130 for my stepson. Spouse is her on green card with a May Naturalization interview date. His visa was granted in 2024, and he came to the US in December 2024. No physical green card to date. Since then, he (just 15 years old) has been disobeying his paternal mother. Staying out late without permission. Locks himself in the room because he doesn t want to be bothered. Often late for or misses classes and seldom does any household chores as asked and disrespects his mother sometimes to tears. We want to send him back to his home country to live with grandparents as he was doing before.

We both cannot deal with the daily arguing and he's not a good example for the younger children in the house.

Is there any legal action we have to take to send him back. He indicated he refuses to go back.

Hello,

I am filing my I-485 (Register Permanent Residence) and I-765 (Employment Authorization) together and was wondering how can I show proof of a common residence/housing with my wife if she does not have her SSN yet. I know some apartment leases will allow a name to be added without a SSN, but I am currently living in a house that is under my parent's names.

Thank you!

Just in case some of you are minitoring cases like I do

PD 12-24-23

Approved: 3-31-2025

Total days: 15 months 7 days