Pabe

Great, I'm about to fly to Europe in a few weeks with my maiden name passport, married name GC and tickets in married name, I wonder how that will go... Bringing marriage certificate and whatever other evidence I can think of, I guess... I wonder if it makes a difference that my tickets are in my married name so GC and luggage tags will match?!

I hope your trip will go ok, I was told that your passport much match with the name on tickets. I did that few months ago, so I had maiden name on my tickets and passport, and married name on my green card. No one said anything and they didn´t ask for the marriage certificate but I would still carry it with me. Good luck!

I hope someone can answer your question about how legal it is to ask such papers... but I don´t think you overreacted at all. I would have been very insulted by this as well. The country where I come from I am not used been doubted about everything like I often feel over here. Unfortunately quite often in Us I feel like I´m treated as a criminal even when I have not done anything, or that I first have to prove that I´m not a criminal before I get treated well. The culture is just different.

So you are currently in AOS process? If so, I would not travel abroad before getting either the green card or your EAD with Advance parole in it.

Edit: Ups sorry, I misunderstood the situation. Don´t really know how it works that way.

We sent originally about 10 pictures and about the same amount of chat copies, some receipts and copies of passport stamps. We got a RFE where they wanted more of them and translations, since we had missed few words of foreign language in our chats, and new intent to marry letters. The way I see it, the emphasis on the RFE letter was really with the fact that they wanted to see that we had been in the same at the same time, not so much with the amount of pictures or receipts. Many people also say that too much is not good either. So we sent them another 10 pictures with dates on them, more copies of our passport stamps since we had met again after filing K1, engagement party invitation, credit card receipts showing that we had both been in that place at the same time and boarding passes. I made 2 copies of each pictures so I sent them real pictures but the officer doing our interview said that everything else can be photo copies but the applications and documents that are signed. Our K1 was approved.

Our lawyer also told us to focus on pictures in front of famous places and with our families if possible, and make sure they are auto-dated. He also said it is good to high light important dates or facts in receipts with a color pen, and organize papers so that they are easy to read. I don´t think it´s a deal breaker but if I was an officer, I think I would rather handle folders with less stuff but the facts shown in it so that it is easy to read. But this is just how I see it.

And looking back at the process, I agree with other writers with the fact that the lawyer is really not needed if you just follow the instructions carefully.

You said your I-94 was ok.. hold on to that since they will take it in your AOS interview.

Our lawyer even recommended high lighting important dates and places on our evidence documents. We got approved.

Congrats on your approval.

I got my green card 2 months ago and I got the same updates. I received the card on mail in about week and few days after my interview so usually they are pretty fast. They also sent the "welcome to America" letter and that I was approved before that but it was accidentally delivered to my neighbor's house so I´m not sure when I should have received that..probably before the card. I´m sure you will get your soon.

Definitely not confusing the issues as we did not have an AOS interview here, I would have remembered going to that. I believe the evidence we sent along with the fact that she went through the interview in her home country was sufficient enough.

My link

Seems like a fair number of others did not have an AOS interview

Are you sure? Your timeline doest say anything about your AOS interview, only about K1. I have never heard that you can do AOS interview in other country (than Us) so I don´t comment on that, but I just had mine last month and the invitation letter clearly stated that my husband needed to be present in the interview. I received the invitation after getting AP and EAD card. I know not all are invited to an interview but most are, so that I would keep that in mind if I was moving outside from the country.

We just got back from Hawaii and it was lovely! Don´t risk by going anywhere out of the Us... you have time for that later. Enjoy your trip!

I went in with a passport that had my maiden name.. it didn´t seem to be a problem. They didn´t even ask the marriage certificate but just in case take it with you. If the passport is not valid anymore, I don´t know the answer to that, but I would think they know how difficult it is for a foreigner to get a new passport here. They didn´t even look at my passport very closely so I´m not sure if they would have noticed if it was valid or not. Good luck!

In California you need either the EAD card or green card to be able to get the ID. EAD you will usually get before green card after you file your AOS papers.

We got the same kind of RFE and I always just thought they wanted more prove since we hadn´t known for very long. So we sent them new letters of intents (dated with the current date), 10 more pictures, more tickets of places we have gone to, passport copies (from both) with stamps on them and more airline tickets since we had seen each others while waiting for the K1, and credit card bills showing we had been in same place at the same time. Our lawyer also advised to high light the words or dates with color pen in the documents that we wanted them to notice, and that pictures together with our families would be the best and pictures in front of famous landmarks. 2 weeks later we were approved!

Good luck!

Sorry to hear that!!

We filed the K1 the very next day my husband got his divorce degree from the court house, so maybe a week after the actual divorce date. We had no problems getting the K1 (this was last year) and now we are happily married. So unless he has some other reasons not to file, I would say go for it.

When we got our RFE asking for more evidence, we sent them pictures in little zip lock bag (to be sure they are safe) organized from oldest to newest, and then other evidence or copies of them put together with paper clips. I don´t thin it matters much, as long as they get what they want. Our lawyer also advised us to highlight the important facts with color pens. So I highlighted the dates from our boarding passes and passport stamp copies etc.

I did not put page numbers but I did have a cover letter telling the info of our RFE and what is included in our letter.

We could not make all the papers fit into that tiny envelope they sent but the instructions on their web site clearly say it must be used (I think because of the bar code they have in it), so we used bigger envelope but we taped the small one on top of it as a address label. Few days after mailing it we got a response that they got it and our petition was approved few weeks later.. so I guess what we did was not considered wrong.

Good luck!

There is a program on internet that you can download what you can use to put dates on pictures afterwards. We used that since we didn´t have them in all the pictures. You probably find it from google or I can ask my husband the name when he gets back from work.

We still kept writing dates, place and names of the people on the other side of the picture. Our lawyer advised at the time to use about 10 pictures (not too little but not too much either) from ALL the times we met, and that pictures of us together with our families are most valuable and pictures in front of famous landmarks are good if you have done traveling together.

Good luck! Don´t panic about RFE, we got one too and I think that only made them make a decision on our case faster.

We got a RFE for the same reason (I think it might of been because we had only known each others for short time) even though I thought we sent plenty of evidence. We had 10 pictures, e-mails, airline tickets, affidavits etc. We responded to RFE by sending another 15 pictures from the times we have met and our travels, copies of our passport stamps from our travels (this is what RFE asked), more e-mails and credit card receipts proving we were in the same country at the same time, tickets of museums and shows we attented... anything you can think of that can prove you 2 met. Also our lawyer advised us that pictures of us together with our families are valuable and we should send them pictures of us in front of famous landmarks since he knew we traveled together.

Yes, everything that is not in English must be translated. This was another reason for our RFE, we had few Finnish words in our e-mails that we didn´t notice at first. We ended up translating everything possible since I didn´t wanna risk it.. even the passport stamps since some were in Russian letters. You don´t need a professional translator, just a person who can speak both languages and you will find plenty of advice how to do it here in VJ.

Don´t panic, to us RFE only met that we got the answer faster than other people who applied at the same time as we did! Good luck!

I tryed secured card and Target card but didn´t get either. Instead I was able to open a credit card to Sears store. I really woulnd´t need it otherwise but I will keep it for 2 years, and keep buying something small, so I can get my credit history opened. They gave me the card even though I don´t have my Us ID yet, I used my passport to open it. I also have a joined credit card with my husband but our bank said it wont start my credit history anymore like it used to years ago.

I also bought a phone from AT&T and they will bill you at home if you give them $500. I believe this also will be seen in your credit history. They will give you the 500 back after one year if you have payed all your bills on your new phone.

It should be on her NOA2 with case number and other info.

I am in the same situation with my license. In California they recognize the EAC as a proof or permanent residence and it usually is sent out before the green card, so I will return to DMV with that when I get it. In a mean while I have been driving with my european license since it seamed like no one at DMV knew what the rules really are (even though I think the info you got is right). And who really knows if I´m still a visitor or not, in worst case they might deny my application. Officially I am not a permanent resident yet since I couldn´t even change my social security card on my married name because I didn´t have enough proof of being a resident. We are in the grey area here...

They tried that same thing to someone I know.. some places just say you need a new examination even though it´s not true. She called to few other places and found one that was willing to give her just the vaccination document. You should call to other places and check on them and check the price at the same time. 150 dollars sounds a bit much.

The brown envelope is going to be opened by custom officer on your POE. It contains the applications that you have filed during your K1 process, not sure if the embassy keeps some of them but I saw that my envelope had most of the applications even from the beginning of process. My passport came with the envelope and at least in my country I had to fill out a paper before the interview with my address on it, so that is where they mailed it. I know some people were given an opportunity to go and pick it up from the embassy so I guess it depends on the officer. However, I think it depends on the embassy if you can still change the address, just call or email them to ask.

Good luck!

We are planning to do the same.. so if you already had your trip please tell me how did it go Any problems?

We are planning on going to Big Island since it seems to have everything we are looking for.. awesome nature, black sand beaches, snorkeling and not so much tourists. I hope I get to see some turtles and maybe whales too!!

omg.. i just read the the k1visa guide again.. and i forgot the proof of name change for both of us!!!!!!!!!!!! how did i miss that???? GREAT!!! we'll waste about 2 weeks for RFE..

You will most likely get a RFE which is not always a bad thing. In our, and most of other cases, they will process your application right away after responding it. We responded in few days after getting RFE and got approved in 5 days after that. We were actually waiting for NOA2 for a month later.. so RFE shortened the processing time.

I don´t know if medical is different in Philippines than in Europe but I have done mine and I don´t know how the cycle has anything do with the exam... there was nothing in my medical that would have been connected to that. So at least in here, it really doesn´t matter when you have your medical as long as you are not pregnant when they can´t do the x-ray.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/317996-csc-noa2-to-nvc-delay/

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