FinnAlb

Thank you! Sorry, one more question. Is it VCS or CSC?

No worries, it's VCS.

Oh, and wanted to add my gratitude to all the people in these forums. Unbelievable amount of information that made it possible for me to get through this without a lawyer. And of course the mental support from everyone else knowing that there are a lot of people going through the same thing.

So cheers guys!

Congrats!!

Can I please get an approximate date on your RFE, RFE response date and approval date? Thanks!

Thanks!

My admission date was 4/15/2013, RFE 8/31/2013 (estimate), RFE response 9/26/2013, Date of decision 12/10/2013 and delivery date 12/21/2013.

Got my card on 12/21 also! Apparently, I forgot to put my name on the list though, lol.

However, I got RFE for the bank information and basically sent them all our bank statements since we got married. I don't see what extra value or information they really gave them, but at least I got my green card!

Hi MCG, sorry for a very late reply, hadn't check back for a while.

Actually, those are the covers for I-130 and I-485, the only thing I had on the cover besides the list was my name and the name of the package. So like this: FirstName LastName: Petition for I-485.

I-131 and I-175 were part of the I-485 package, so I didn't have a separate cover for those.

Hope this helps and isn't too late for you. I know it's a frustrating process of getting everything together, so good luck! You'll get there!

Holy cow, for some reason I had thought that this process takes a lot less time than it seems to. I am going to have my biometrics in couple of weeks, but I guess I'm going to have to wait for the gc for a while..

Oh well, good luck everyone!

Hi MCG,

I was in your situation 2 years ago and I honestly don't remember all the twists, but here are my package cover showing all the things that I filed (personal info taken off of course). You should obviously do your research in case something has changed, but these were filed in 2011.

Cover for I-485

1. Form I-485

2. Money order ($985 + Biometrics: $85)

3. My name

a. Copy of Birth Certificate and 2 passport-size photos

b. Copy of Passport with I-94 and Visa

c. Marriage Certificate

4. Medical Examination Report in a sealed envelope

5. Form G-325A + attachment (My name)

6. Affidavit of Support (I-864)

a. Form I-864

b. Federal Income Tax Return (1040): 2008. 2009. 2010

c. W-2: 2009, 2010

d. Pay Stubs: Wife’s work 10/03/2010 – 01/21/2011

e. Bank Statement showing the salaries paid to wife since 05/02/2010

f. Letter from the employer: Verification of employment

7. Form G-1145: To receive e-notification of application acceptance

I-765

1. No application fee, since filed concurrently with I-485

2. Form I-765

3. Copy of My previous EAD

4. Two passport-size photos

I-131

1. Form I-131

2. Copy of NYS Driver License

3. Copy of EAD

4. Explanation of my qualification for advance parole document

Cover for I-130

1. Form I-130

2. Money Order ($420)

3. Wife (Proof of U.S. citizenship)

a. Copy of Birth Certificate

b. Copy of Passport (all the pages)

4. Proof of Family Relationship

a. Copy of Marriage Certificate

b. Form G-325A with a passport-size photo (me)

c. Form G-325A + attachment with a passport-size photo (wife)

d. Evidence of Bona Fides of Our Marriage

i. Number of photos from the past

e. Our past two leases with both of our names on them

f. Bank Statements showing our join account information

g. Affidavit (name) letter confirming our relationship

Hope this helps. Good luck with your filing! I got my conditional green card in 2011 and just filed I-751 to get the conditional status removed.

Thanks for the clarification!

All you really need to do is to take the I-693 with you and they will take care of everything else. Also, bring all your medical information (so basically the vaccinations) that you have with you.

Also, make sure you use a doctor that is listed by USCIS to be permitted to do the examination.

Ohhh.. ok I get it. I'm sorry I haven't really found my way around the website yet but what you have said has confirmed what i thought was right. Thank you for your time and help. Much appreciated

Hi Ally,

I was in the same situation with you and posted the list of documents in my AOS package here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/295410-f-1-married-to-usc-aos-ead-ap/page__p__4494648__fromsearch__1#entry4494648

For filling out all the forms, this website and ***removed***'s (just google the document name + instructions for example I-485 + instructions) form sections are really good. They both tell you exactly how to fill out the forms.

Good luck!

We had our interview a week ago on Monday and I received my green card today. This is in Albany, NY.

Congrats! I will be interviewing in NYC eventually (though not probably until August the earliest), but it's always nice to read other people's experiences. Question - did you provide them with your Finnish BC with translation, or just the population extract (väestörekisteriote)? I have both, but just sent the latter one with the AOS.

Thanks . I only had the extract, since I have no idea where my birth certificate is. He was a little surprised about it, since it wasn't on an actual letter head or anything, just a plain copy with a stamp. But he didn't really give us a hard time because of it. But always better if you have both.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm glad to help, even though you probably don't have much more to do if you already submitted the application..

We had our interview yesterday 4/25 also in Albany, NY and everything went for the most part the same way as tenshiswife explained. Basically, the IO just asked us to briefly explain how we met and our history, after which we showed our car insurance, credit cards, wedding pictures, joint bank accounts and such things. He took photocopies of them and said that he believes that we have a bona fide relationship and that we just have to go over the paperwork to make sure everything is right in there.

The situation was very calm and relaxed. The IO was very warm and explained right in the beginning that we have to do the interview simply because every now and then people have fraudulent marriages to get into the country. He also tried to relax the situation with little jokes and asking about the weather and things like that, which was nice.

So, overall not a scary situation at all. Our application was approved, and I should receive the GC shortly .

Also, if there are other people in Albany, who are going to get their biometrics done. If you want to go earlier than your scheduled time, they have walk-in time on Wednesdays.

Thank you everybody for all the help in here. I really appreciate it! Thanks to these forums and a lot of research, we didn't need to waste money on a lawyer.

Cr**. Just as I was thinking that we should be all good for this process - had not even considered that the interview might, and actually probably will, happen during the summer months - nor had I thought about this permanent residence issue.

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Uhhhhhh. I am telling you, getting my husband a work permit and residence permit for Finland will be a walk in the park compared to this process... But, anything for love, right?

Um, I mailed in my package 02/01/2011 and my biometrics are scheduled for 03/08, so most like my interview will be about a month from that. So most likely your interview will be during the summer months. Sorry. I have pretty much exactly the same plans to be in Finland for the summer months and that's exactly why I wanted to get everything out in time.

I also second the lower part. It will be EASY to do this in Finland. Although, there is a little less people trying to get to Finland .

E: Oh, and once you have mailed in your package, you shouldn't travel until you receive your AP. I was going through other peoples' timelines, got the idea that it will take 2-3 months to receive the AP.

One question I've been wondering about - I need to submit a copy (translated and verified by a notary, right?) of my birth certificate along with the application. I have it, but I was wondering if there ever is an issue in the U.S. with the Finnish birth certificate format - after all, all it really states is that my mother had a baby girl on my birthday, but of course it does not have a name or any other identification information in it. I know US birth certificates are very different from ours.. Do they usually require any additional proof of identity / nationality / citizenship?

Hey, nice to see other Finns here too:). Sorry, haven't been able to reply for a few days.

I had my mom go to register office (Maistraatti) in Finland and they mailed me a Birth Certificate in English. My mom never got one when I was born, so I had never even seen a Finnish version of it before. However, I did some research, and it seems that other people have been fine with it. As long as it has the original stamp from Maistraatti you should be fine.(Or if you got it from the hospital and got it translated).

I don't know about the processing times for sure, but based on other people's timelines, I would guess it'll take about 4 months to receive the CG.

Anyways, let me know if you have any questions and I can try to help . Good luck with the paperwork

Thank you so much for posting this! I have only recently filed my aos package, and the interview part is still very unclear to me. So thank you for being so detailed! And congratulations on getting accepted!

I am also in Albany, so we will be going to the same place as you did.

@ Maxximus1074, Sorry, I was being unclear. I have had more employers within the past five years than there were lines on the form, so I included attachment where they can find all the employment history. Happy to hear it looks good after a glance

@juliava. This is another thing I should have mentioned. This actually is my cover page (except I took off all the personal information). So the line "Petition for I-485" starts the cover letter for the I-485 and the line "Petition for I-30" starts the I-130 cover.

@Steven386. You are very welcome. If you have any questions/or need help. Let me know.

I know it's a long list, but I wanted to type everything down separately, since I was told to make sure you treat both packages (I-485 and I-130) as their own entities. So, I wanted write down that I have everything twice basically you know...

Hey everyone,

I thought I should post the list of documents and forms included to my AOS package. I found it very helpful when other people did this, so I want to contribute. For a background, I met my wife in Scotland back in 2005. We did long distance for almost a year, after which she moved to Finland for year and a half. Then we moved to the US in fall 2008, since we both went back to school. Now I am doing an OPT and we got married 01/01/2011. I filed my AOS package 02/01/2011 and you can find everything I included below. If you see something I've done wrong, please let me know, so I am prepared for problems Thanks.

Petition for I-485

Table of Content

1. Form I-485

2. Money order ($985 + Biometrics: $85)

3. Me:

- Copy of Birth Certificate and 2 passport-size photos

- Copy of Passport with I-94 and Visa

- Marriage Certificate

- Medical Examination Report in a sealed envelope(I-693)

- Form G-325A + attachment(ran out of space with work history)

6. Affidavit of Support (I-864)

- Form I-864

- Federal Income Tax Return (1040): 2008. 2009. 2010

- W-2: 2009, 2010

- Pay Stubs: From my wife's school

- Bank Statement showing the salaries paid to to my wife

- Letter from the employer: Verification of employment

7. Form G-1145: To receive e-notification of application acceptance

I-765

1. No application fee, since filed concurrently with I-485

2. Form I-765

3. Copy of my previous EAD

4. Two passport-size photos

I-131

1. Form I-131

2. Copy of NYS Driver License

3. Copy of EAD

4. Explanation of my qualification for advance parole document

Petition for I-30

Table of content:

1. Form I-130

2. Money Order ($420)

3. MY wife (Proof of U.S. citizenship)

- Copy of Birth Certificate

- Copy of Passport (all the pages)

4. Proof of Family Relationship

- Copy of Marriage Certificate

- Form G-325A with a passport-size photo (Wife)

- Form G-325A + attachment with a passport-size photo (Me)

- Evidence of Bona Fides of Our Marriage

-- Number of photos from the past years

- Our past two leases with both of our names on them

- Bank Statements showing our join account information

- Affidavit (Wife’s mother) letter confirming our relationship

Hopefully this will help someone! I just received my NOAs yesterday 02/12/2011.

You could try starting your own topic in the AOS forum OR you could ad it to your "About me" section in your profile, or your signature. Depends on what you want to do

Will do . I'll make my own topic. Although now I'm worried I have forgotten something and someone will point it out

This is the first time I am writing on one of these forums, but I figured I should make my timeline available for other people, since they have helped me tremendously.

So, I mailed my AOS a week ago, and am now waiting for NOA from Chicago. But is there a certain thread, where I could post everything I included to my package? I really appreciated people doing this, since I was very nervous whether I remembered everything or not.

Anyways, waiting game is on. And thanks for everything posting on these forums!