ecce

Thanks everyone!

My husband (came over from Israel and July and we were married) and I planned to file our taxes together for 2011. He made no U.S. income in 2011. However, I am using TurboTax and it is asks explicitly if any money was made outside the U.S. or if either of us had any foreign bank accounts at any point in the year. If you click "yes" it makes you fill out what looks to be a very complicated set of forms about foreign assets and investments. My husband did have a small checking account and he earned a *little* income in the first few months of the year that he paid Israeli taxes on as an Israeli citizen. The amounts are really low. My question is whether these assets really count, since I don't understand how they are the business of the U.S. government at all - he wasn't a U.S. citizen or resident when he earned it. Is there any reason for me to even have his name on my taxes if he didn't make any money in the U.S. (i.e., does he even need to file)? Have have other people dealt with this and what we are really supposed to report anything?

Thanks

We got approved for the GC! But at this point we've learned to wait for the actual document before opening the champagne. Hopefully it'll come in the next few weeks. Looks like we might get the GC before the EAD or AP, but such is life.

Here's what happened at the interview: We got called almost on time, but it was only me (the U.S. citizen, not the petitioner) who got called in - the woman asked my husband to wait outside. I figured that wasn't a good sign - that they would interview us separately, but it turned out to be fine. She just asked me to describe in detail how/ where we met and became a couple. Then she asked about a previous incident he had had at the border where he was questioned. (He had trouble coming in on a tourist visa to visit shortly after we got engaged. He mentioned to them at the border he was visiting his fiance and they thought he was likely to stay...) So I had to explain that, even though we hadn't broken any rules, they just decided he was suspicious. After asking me a lot about that (I had to assure her that he didn't coerce me in to applying for the fiance visa), she called him in.

The only things she was interested in seeing was:

1) My driver's license (I got a loooong lecture because it's an out of state license, because I am a grad student...so it doesn't have our current address on it)

2)Our lease. This was a problem because the management company refused to put my husband's name on it because he doesn't have a job (because he doesn't yet have the work authorization). So we just explained that - we tried to get her to look at bills with our name on them but she wasn't interested. It turned out ok, but she kept asking if we lived in student housing (we don't) and she seemed confused by our address for some reason.

3) My husband's second passport.

She didn't want to see any pictures or bills or financial info or anything else we had prepared. She asked for awhile about my husband's studies in the U.S., and his mandatory army service, and she went through the AOS form, question by question, to make sure he answered no. Then she said she was approving the case, to make sure that the post office had his correct address (whatever this means) and we didn't have to wait for anything else.

Just trying to get all our ducks in a row before the AOS interview next week and wanted to double check a few things...

I am debating whether or not I need to get a new employment letter for the interview. I meet income requirements, but my income comes from 3 different places, so I'd like to avoid running around and getting 3 new letters if the ones I mailed in with the AOS form will do fine (those are dated 7/26. My lawyer friend implied that they might be "stale.") I have printed out the last 2 months of pay stubs though.

The new evidence of our relationship we are bringing is as follows:

-Certified marriage license (obvs)

-Gas bill with both our names on it

-Electric bill with both our names on it

-Joint checking account statement and check with both names (It was opened less that 2 months ago, but he's only been in the country for less than 3 months...and we've really been using it.)

-5 photos from the City Hall marriage and 9 photos from our Big Wedding which happened 3 weeks later.

Do you think that's enough evidence? We wish we could put him on the lease, but the management company won't put his name on because he personally doesn't have a job so he doesn't meet income requirements! It's their rules. We will probably dig up a document that links his health insurance to me, but beyond that, we don't have a lot else. I live a pretty simple life as a graduate student and have no property/assets and we've only been married 2.5 months! Can they reasonably expect a lot more?

My main question is, what if they ask "Why did you bother getting married at city hall if your big wedding was only 3 weeks away?" The main answer is, "we wanted to get him work authorized as soon as possible." But can we say this? We can also play up the fact that we didn't have a real officiator at the Big Wedding - just a friend - so we needed a JOP. We don't want to raise any red flags, even though I think we did everything legit.

If it does raise red flags, is it ok to show both the City Hall and the Big Wedding photos?

Thanks

I was shocked (in a good way) to receive our USCIS interview date for Oct 17th. We submitted our AOS packet on July 28. Two and half months!!

Thanks! We're staying optimistic the EAD will come relatively soon.

It is possible to still get them separately, say if someone only applied for one, and not the other, or if the two parts get separated (like in your case ecce). If the two applications are together then a combo card will be issued, but the separate pieces (EAD card and AP paper) still exist. I don't think a lost AP will result in a delayed EAD. Probably the AP will get matched up with wherever the EAD is in line though, and be approved at the same time the EAD would have been in any case - in other words, you won't lost time on the EAD and probably the AP will be approved with it, even if you sent the AP part back in a week ago.

Darn it! We're really waiting for the EAD...the AP is a "just in case" thing. So I guess we've just been held up a month while our AP NOA was lost in the mail and the re-routed to USCIS! Grrr.... Dont some people only apply for the EAD though?

I'm sorry you're going through this. You WILL get your visa eventually, but that consulate is really unreliable.

Someone close to me worked at the State Department for decades and they said this: ask your congressman for help. The Jerusalem consulate is supposedly PARTICULARLY sensitive to congressional complaints. (It has something to do with diplomatic reasons (i.e., because Jerusalem is a disputed capital), so it is the ONLY CONSULATE IN THE WORLD that reports directly to a higher up place than all other consulates.)

Anyway, if you can, let all your congressmen know. It didn't help me, but I hope it works for you.

same problem with my wife..she went to an interview on 8/11/11 and was told that she was approved and that her passport would be mailed with in a month. its now coming up to a month and there is no word..upon emailing them we were told that her case is being processed and that there is no prediction on when it would be ready.

any advise on the hold up?

thanks

mike

Same type of thing happened to us! The NOA for the Travel Authorization was returned to USCIS as undeliverable, but the NOA for the EAD and AOS and biometrics letter made it here. Obviously we used the same name and address for all the forms and they were mailed in together. Just checked spelling and all info on what we sent in and it's correct. Obviously this is just another USCIS incompetence. I sympathize with your frustration, but not sure what to do about it...

By the way, do the EAD and AP documents usually come together if you apply for them at the same time? Just don't want the EAd to be delayed because of the AP delay...

If time=money, then it can cost a significant amount. We waited over six hours cumulative in the SS office to complete approximately 20 minutes of business i.e. apply for SS # and change name.

However, there is no filing fee to change names.

Did it yesterday and I was in the office for all of 10 minutes. No cost.

I'm on the East Coast and we're predicted to have the worst hurricane we've seen for decades hitting us on Sunday. They are talking about the potential for substantial damage and power outages. My husband has his biometrics appointment at 9am on Monday. If the storm ends up being what they say, where can we find out on Monday morning whether the USCIS office he's supposed to go to is even open? Of course they don't have a phone number. Will it show on the the "News -- Alerts" section of the USCIS website?

Don't worry about the tax forms either - we brought three years worth but the only asked for one year. I know what it's like to be nervous before the interview, but we brought so much stuff that they didn't even ask for, and if they don't specifically ask for it, they won't even see it.

Just an update: We waited to mail in the AOS packet. My husband called the MD who did the medical examination in Israel who informed him that they never fill out the vaccination record DS-3025 in their office (very strange - not sure why - didn't we pay him to fill out all those forms???). Anyway, when we heard there was never a DS-3025 filled out and that meant there was probably a blank DS-3025 in that brown envelope he handed in at JFK, we were sure we'd get an RFE so we made an apt with a civil surgeon here in town. We were able to bring in some old vaccination records in English from his grad school/ previous employer and get that section of the I-693 filled out and signed by the U.S. civil surgeon. It cost $30. Of note, they said the only things that were truly mandatory were tetanus and MMR - everything else you can request some sort of exemption for. Sounds a wee bit fishy to me, but at least the form is officially completed and signed...

And now, AOS packet mailed!!

It makes me a little bit queasy to be back in the care of USCIS, but no choice. So here we wait. At least now I know not to look at any timelines, cuz in our case, we seem to always be marching to our own, very slow, beat. It's just SO much better to be in the same place during this phase.

We're supposed to submit vaccination records with AOS forms, but my husband did not make a copy of the form after his medical in April. It's ironic because the medical is literally the only thing we didn't make 2 copies of in this whole process, and it's kind of the only thing we should have.

Advice?

Why would they make you send the vaccination part only? (i.e., if USCIS has one medical form from the POE packet, shouldn't they have all?)

Fine. Case closed. I was just curious about what Vanessa and Tony said, but it doesn't matter. We'll wait.

I have a question for you:

You know that he will not be authorized to work for 90 or more days after he enters the US.

You know that even if he uses his previously issued SSN and Driver's License to get a job that doesn't E-Verify it will be illegal.

I'm sure you understand that if anything goes wrong with his AOS and he also has worked illegally it will simply compound the problems.

So why would you knowingly do something that has no real upside but can cause problems? Is a few months work of income really worth it if things go wrong?

As part of the process you be already plan for the immigrant spouse to not work for several months.

Anna was authorized to work the day she landed in the US (CR-1) and has her SSN within 3 weeks but she didn't work for a year and a half because we had a lot of other things to do.

Well, as I explained, I am just trying to understand the discrepancy - not to doubt what people are saying here. My goal here is to be able to convince my fiance, who, understandably, very much wants to work, that it's illegal after our lawyer is telling us it is legal.

Because I am getting this conflicting info, I don't know any of the things above. I have heard that these things are the case, but we have also heard something different. Just trying to get to the source here so I can explain it to someone else. That's all.

We won't do anything illegal.

It's forgiven for K1 adjusters as well.. just FYI. There's many many cases of this. They're the spouse of a USC and afforded the same waiver.

Could you explain a bit more? I know that people probably do it, but it's not legal right? Conflicts with all other answers above...

Thanks everyone. You guys are great. I wasn't trying to be difficult, just to make sure I knew enough to try to convey the rules to others. All very helpful.

The circumstances from a few years ago do not apply presently, correct?

I don't know. You are right that the circumstances definitely have changed. But it's not like a driver's license deactivates when he leaves the country, nor does his SS number change. And SS cards don't expire either. Plenty of other documents DO expire. So it seems as though, if they needed to note something on his SS card they would have asked to do just that during the visa application process or at the POE. It seems to me they keep pretty careful track of what documents people have that are from old U.S. residences, and they take away ones that no longer count. So, how are we actually breaking the law by providing his old SS card if someone asks for it, given that they don't expire?

No. He is not eligible to work. There used to be some confusion that K-1s could work, but that has been clarified now with the updated I-9 Employment eligibility form. Your lawyer is out of date. Check the I-9 Employment Eligibility form, and note the requirements. He can APPLY to get an EAD before marriage, however, it will take around 3 months to process, expire when his I-94 does (3 months from POE), and cost $340.

Thanks for the link Harpa Timsah! But - this is the thing - when I look at the I-9 Employment Eligibility form at the last page, it looks like he IS eligible to work because he has a drivers license issued from a U.S. state and a social security card. Both were issued a few years ago. The SS card does not "specify on the face that the issuance of the card does not authorize employment in the U.S." because it was issued when he was previously in the country. It appears by these criteria that he is eligible.

I understand about how we could apply for the EAD without AOS immediately and that it's not worth it, but that's not what our lawyer was suggesting. He said my fiance could work tomorrow if he wanted. I know that if our lawyer says he can work (or seek work) immediately, he will want to do that. But that makes me very nervous, given everything I have heard on VJ when I know the people responding have been through it.

What could be the reason that our lawyer is telling us something different? Is there anything I can show him and my fiance that would prove otherwise?

Thanks guys - forgot to mention that he already HAS a SS card and number from the 6 years he was a student in the U.S.

Does that change anything?

Ok, I KNOW this topic has been discussed at length on this forum and I have read many of these posts and understand that the general consensus is we must get married and apply for AOS and the EAD right after we are married in order for him to authorized to work.

So, how come our immigration lawyer is assuring us that he can work immediately?? Lawyer says that a work permit is incident to the status of a K1 visa. My understanding is that we still need the EAD that takes a couple/few months, but he insists my fiance can still work in the meantime while we are applying for the EAD because it's understood that the time period will be very short until he gets the form - or something like that.

We obviously want to do the right thing here. If our lawyer is mistaken, can anyone point me to any concrete references for the rules surrounding K1 employment? Like a USCIS page? There was an old VJ link to a USCIS page that apparently stated the rule but the link is from 2006 and no longer works. Anyone have anything else??

Thanks!

Thank you again everyone. Yesterday when I posted I hadn't slept a wink and was still in shock and recovering from the tumultuous process, hence all those complex emotions.

Today, I woke up, and it had sunk in. It was PURE JOY from beginning to end, knowing that my fiance is scheduled to arrive on Friday. I'm looking forward to more of it. It is, as others have said, the best feeling ever. I wish it for all of you soon.

Just had notification from the U.S.Embassy in London that my K1 visa interview has been scheduled for 23rd August. Out original NOA1 was received on October 28th and as I do not want to delay things any further I want to book my flight ASAP. Has anyone information as to how long it normally takes to get passport back after the interview, also I note the courier fees are from £14.50 does this mean you can pay more for a faster service. Any advice from anyone who has been through the process would be greatly appreciated.

Had a bad experience with booking a flight too early, though not in the UK...We were also told 7-10 days til we would get the visa at the interview and then they just kept telling us a few more days, a few more days... and it turned out to be 36 days (just yesterday)! My very optimistic fiance just kept pushing his flight back one week each time. Then, after 3 missed attempts, I made him re-book to more than a month away. And then he got the visa yesterday, he re-booked again to this Friday. In total, we ended up re-booking FOUR TIMES - which needless to say, lost us a lot of money in the end, so do be careful!! Also, obviously once you book you're stuck with that airline for rebookings...

Congrats on getting the interview date - obviously I completely understand your wish to have things more quickly, but in some cases, buying a ticket for the next day would have been cheaper and less stressful than changing it once a week til it came.

Thank you thank you thank you everyone! Couldnta done it without your support.