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gyselle

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Posts posted by gyselle

    Biometrics Interview Re-scheduling Dilemma

    in Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I recieved my biometrics interview for the 24/1.

    Unfortunately, I am in New York for the month of January for work.

    I have a small window of 27/1 - 29/1 where I'll be in San Francisco (where I reside, where my appointment is).

    After that, I'll be travelling abroad for work for 13 weeks and the time I arrive back cuts it close to where my 2 year green card will expire. What should I do?

    1. Can I walk into the NY office and request that I do my biometrics appointment there?

    2. Can I apply for a new appoinment, when I return from abroad? If I get the letter before 29/1, I will do a biometrics walk-in in San Francisco

    The travel is all for work and is non-negotiable. It's all project-based and client based etc. So those dates cannot be moved.

    What should I do?

    Cheers,

    Venetia

    Timeline and stages for I-751

    in Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I've just submitted my paperwork for 1-751.

    I am curious what the various stages are (and the estimated time in between)?

    There is:

    1. Recieved

    2. NOA

    3. Biometrics

    4. RFE/Interview (maybe?)

    5. Approval.

    I've seen that the approval might take 4-6 months.

    I have to travel for work and will have to re-enter the country around the time my 2-year green card expires.

    I read some people recieved a 1-year extension. Does anyone know which stage this might happen? How long will it take?

    I know the RFE/Interview might affect the timeline...but can anyone comment?

    Thank you

    w4?

    in Finding Work in America

    Posted

    Hi all.

    I am starting a job soon and was wondering about the W4.

    Questions C states: Enter “1” for your spouse. But, you may choose to enter “-0-” if you are married and have either a working spouse or more

    than one job. (Entering “-0-” may help you avoid having too little tax withheld.)

    I am confused. Is it better for me to put 1 or 0? I have a spouse.. (1?) but sounds like 0 might be a better option to help avoid having too little tax withheld?

    I heard there is a penalty for having too little tax withheld?

    Is K-1 the best way for us?

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted · Edited by gyselle

    Rebecca Jo: Perhaps.

    Julie y Pat: Yes. My "celebration dress" was a wedding dress, yes we exchange wedding rings. No, there was no paperwork involved, nothing was signed, nothing was submitted, just two people, in a fancy wedding getup, saying a bunch of words, in front of their friends and family. And we had a party after that..we had a celebration of our union. In fact, I think in the US, gay people do this all the time, but they are still fighting to get their union legally recognised.

    I'll be honest and say with regards to "Any plans if the interviewer for ROC takes a good look at some of the photos from the "celebration" in Singapore and thinks it looks like two people getting married?", it never crossed my mind. Trust me, he doesnt have to take a good look, it is very obvious i was in a wedding getup. And yes, he caught it, because when he asked us when we were married, my husband said "In US/City Hall?" and he said "You mentioned US? Was there another one?" and we explained..and then..showed him the pics...and we even wrote down the date, location and the words "not-formal". This is in hard copy, documented, in my file that is sitting in some US government cabinet now. Again, if I had the intention to commit fraud, NONE of the pictures, the writing, the conversation would even be brought up.

    All the forms and instructions says "You need to legally free to marry," which we are. Our wedding in Thailand was not legal and thats why i told the OP to check and make sure the law of the country doesnt consider religious/ceremonial weddings legal.

    So yes, I took great pains to emphasis non-legal vs legal (or as the officer puts it, non-formal vs formal) because I wanted to emphasis we were "LEGALLY FREE TO MARRY".

    AND My husband and I consider our "celebration date" as our wedding date.... but thats between us and our friends and family.

    In front of the legal folks, just be smart about the words you choose. this is NOT misrepresentation, this is not fraud.

    This is nothing but misrepresentation

    if anyone was to ask us when we got married, we will tell them our "non-legal, celebration date". We will probably also celebrate our anniversary that date as well...and yes, our family and friend will probably send us congrats msgs then. But, we will also tell people, "but our legal wedding date is XXX"..and yes, I will probably wrangle another anniversary gift for our legal wedding date..BUT, if anyone from the government asks, we will say our legal date is XXX, but we our non-legal date is XXX"

    When I say "be smart about the words you choose", I mean dont say things like "FAKE WEDDING". Coz to the legal staff, a fake wedding is a wedding that people have to just get a visa and there is no love involved. Use words like "non-formal/non-legal". "no paperwork".

    Is this really misrepresentation?!?

    This will be my last message on this thread coz I am tired of this back and forth.

    I dont appreciate being accused of fraud when if I really was to commit fraud, I really wont be stupid enough to share information with the officer who pretty much decides my fate...or even post in the forum here encouraging other people to commit fraud.

    I am just sharing my experience and what I did.

    I will leave it up to the individuals to decide what course of action they want to decide for themselves.

    Is K-1 the best way for us?

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted · Edited by gyselle

    This is nothing like not telling IRS about cash income.

    You can say all you want about it being "fraud writ large" and all your sarcasm about people taking a K1 visa route is certainly not appreciated.

    In Singapore, when I had my K1 interview, the lady asked me, "So, do you have plans for your wedding day?"

    I said, "Yes, we plan to have a non-legal wedding celebration on XXX and we plan to get married in City Hall when I entered the US." I even showed her the wedding invitation to the "non-legal wedding", which of course, looks like a normal wedding invite.

    In fact, the lady looked at my case and she even said, "It's nice to have such a straightforward case for once"

    In US, when I had my green card interview, they asked to see the photos of the wedding. We showed him to photos of me in my wedding dress, my groom in a tux, and a picture of the family and friends there...and said, "we had a non-legal wedding on XXX", and we took out our City Hall pic (which was pretty much us, one witness, and the person marrying us). He told us to just write "not formal wedding" (sorry, not celebration) on the non-legal wedding photos. When he asked us, "when did you get married", my husband replied, "in City Hall? XXX". In fact, when we were done, he said, "Ya, you should get your approval today, and i just need to do a background check". A few hours later...we were approved online.

    I have even posted my GC interview experience:

    http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357346-aos-interview-experience-san-fran/page__p__5227380__fromsearch__1#entry5227380

    It is not fraud as we have clearly demarcated the difference to them.

    If it was really fraud, we wouldnt have showed them our invite, wouldnt have showed them our pictures, especially not the wedding dress picture!!

    Our family and friends all know, we have a wedding date and a legal wedding date.

    This is my own personal experience.

    This is what I did.

    Maybe this was alright for us because we were a "straightforward case"? This is both our first application, first marriage, no children. I come from a low-risk country, we lived in the same location for a period of time. Who knows?

    I am sure there are a million and one ways to have a visa denied. For example, my friends who had an Indian wedding almost didnt get her green card because they wanted to see one photograph that had all the guests in it (they have them a lot of ####### about it during the interview, she really thought she wouldnt get it...but she was approved a week later). When I said chose your words carefully, I mean dont be going around saying "I had a fake wedding on XXX".

    I do hear some of people's concerns, and I know posters like Darkmoonfaerie are being kind and just raising the possibility of how it might look. They are just being helpful and advising people to err on a side of caution. If you have any reason to be considered "risky", my advice would be do what is safe.

    Is K-1 the best way for us?

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    Do you plan to tell your fiancee's family that you are having a FAKE wedding for them, and the REAL wedding will be in the US? Or will the REAL wedding be in Korea and the FAKE one in the US for visa purposes?

    I really dont see the issue here.

    We framed our non-legal wedding as a "celebration"...to the US consulate....to my friends and family.

    We explained to them that because my husband worked in Singapore for a while, so we have a lot of friends there, and most of family was there..his family flew from USA to celebrate with us.

    If the "words you say to each other" makes a "wedding", why is there and issue about FAKE/REAL?

    We told my family that the wedding is a celebration together with the family, the one in the USA is purely for legal purposes.

    It is just a piece of paper, the legal work, what needs to be done to get the visa for me to stay here.

    Whatever it is, you just have to make it clear, its a "real wedding" in the eyes of the law, because of the piece of paper.

    The words you say to your partner, the commitment you make to each other, it is a celebration of your union. "real" wedding or not.

    My husband and I consider our "celebration date" as our wedding date.... but thats between us and our friends and family.

    In front of the legal folks, just be smart about the words you choose. this is NOT misrepresentation, this is not fraud.

    Is K-1 the best way for us?

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    I was in a similar situation.

    My husband and I had a non-legal ceremony in Thailand, which was really for the family and friends. We did the whole wedding dress, walking down the aisle etc etc. We flew to the USA 2 weeks later and got legally married in City Hall. I was on a K-1 visa.

    No issue at all, even during my green card interview, we showed the interview the photos (and he kept it) and made it write something like, "non-legal ceremony" (cant remember the exact words used, but we didnt use the words non-legal). I have my green card now. so. No issues.

    However, please check the laws of Korea very carefully, in some countries, a religious ceremony is seen as a legal ceremony (i think thats the case for Indonesia)

    AOS Interview experience (San Fran)

    in Adjustment of Status Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    I had my GC interview today.

    The questions he asked were simple,

    :where do you live, how many rooms, what does your husband do" etc

    He asked if we had been married before (no), if this was our first marriage

    if we had kids together, adopted kids, or illegitimate kids

    he read out my phone number and asked my husband "whose phone number is this?"

    he asked if i've ever been convicted before, possession fo drugs, denied of entry ya da ya da ya da

    He asked for our rental lease agreement (we didnt have it, coz the apartment mgmt said if they added me to the lease, we would need to sign a new one, but acknowledge that i was a resident).

    He asked for my husband's recent W2.we also gave them a letter from the company stating his pay, when he started work and his title

    He didnt ask for joint account stuff, but we gave him the my husband's work's insurance that had me listed as a benefactor.

    He asked us a series of questions, and he made notations on the form,

    after all the notations, he had me inital that all the statements were correct.

    He asked my husband when we got married, (we told him the date in the US) and he said, "you mentioned US, was there another one"

    and we explained we had a ceremonial one in Thailand coz it was closer for my family and friends. but we stressed, no paperwork was done.

    He asked to see photos of the Thailand wedding and asked me to write on the photos, "the ceremony wedding, the date, location, not formal wedding:

    He asked if it was before or after our legal one in US (before...coz it was easier for me to fly to usa after it was done)

    we also gave him the pics of the SF city hall one

    (he barely looked at the pics)

    The only thing was that my medical was "incomplete".

    I had only had a doc transcribe my vaccinations into the form; since I already passed my k1 medical.

    He said it was "incomplete" and asked if I had any medical envelope when i POE

    (i said no, coz i passed the whole sealed packet to the immigration office, and he never gave me anything back.

    I dont even know what i had in the packet".

    I showed him the receipt from my k1 medical. and I did tell him I had to pass that medical before coming into the USA.

    he had to check with his supervisor, in the end, he was ok.

    he had us fill out the biographical information sheet again.

    was really nice coz my husband couldnt remember the address and dates of all the places he lived at in the last 5 years

    (he moved around a lot), the interviewer said dont worry, just give approx dates and the state u were in.

    In the end, he talked to us about Singapore, how much it was changed.

    And we talked about philippines (where he was originally from), about jollibee and BDO and SM Malls

    He ended by saying that we will be under review as he still needs to do a security check on me

    but he will make a decision today (or this week).

    5 hours later, i logged in online and it says..

    I am approved

    :) happy days.

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