Wildstar

Hi,

My wife (permanent resident for over 10 years) is currently applying for citizenship, and I am concerned if an accidental past voter registration will be a major obstacle to approval.

A few years ago she finally got around to getting her driver's license, and while at the department of motor vehicles office, she apparently had to answer a few questions on the computer. One of these questions was about voter registration, and as she was nervous during this entire process she apparently got confused and clicked "yes" she wanted to be registered, although she had no interest in doing so. Her English is good but certainly not perfect. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly how this question was phrased, but according to an example from the state that I found online, the question may have looked like this:

"(1) “Voter Registration Not Found” - screen.

• Select “Yes, I am a U.S. citizen. Register me to vote.”

• Select “No, do not use my information to register me to vote.”

• Select “I Am Already Registered to Vote."

If that is correct, she must have mistakenly clicked on the first option, which unfortunately includes claiming to be a U.S. citizen.  Anyway, the voter registration was cancelled by the state board of elections a year or so later when they discovered my wife is not a citizen, but she is still in their database as having once been registered. She never voted during that time, and never had any intention of doing so.

Unfortunately the N-400 application requires the following two questions to be answered, and I fear we have to answer "Yes."

Have you EVER claimed to be a U.S. citizen (in writing or any other way)?

Have you EVER registered to vote in any federal, state, or local election in the United States?

Is this going to be huge problem for her application?  Is there anything we can do to try to mitigate any damage? Submit some additional evidence or something?

Thanks!

On 4/19/2022 at 12:42 PM, FamousJerry said:

My wife is a 10 year green card holder, she got her card on 11/12/20 according to the USCIS website she can apply in August. We are having our second child in December and we want to have our baby in Thailand with a due date aprox 12/22/22 . After we would like to wait till the baby is at least 3-4 months old. We would return no later than March 5th 2023. That is aprox 10 month out of the country. She was previously out of the country 6 months last year, for a total of 14 months out of usa in that 3 year window. I see online it says 18 month of USA residency and she would meet that. My main questions are can she stay out of USA for 10 months and return with no issues? and will this affect her 3 years (18 month) residency requirements. Sorry for being so long just wanted to try to give as much info as i can.

 

Thank you as always to everyone . This site was great help when we were going thought the K1 process.

I am in a very similar situation. I am a U.S.-born citizen, my wife is Thai and has a 10 year green card through February 2025. We have been living together in the U.S. since 2011. She really wants to apply for citizenship within a year, however:

1) She out of the U.S. for either 179 or 180 days (depending if a partial day would be counted) in 2019-2020 due to the need to take care of her very sick parents in Thailand, who both passed away during this period.

2) We are having a second child late this year, and thinking about doing so in Thailand. Due to some complicated family issues (land ownership dispute requiring lengthy legal proceedings), we expect that we would probably need to remain in Thailand for 6-9 months (but definitely less than a year). 

I understand, as posted above, that technically being out of the country more than 6 months would reset the clock on citizenship.  However, I also see it says that it is possible to avoid this reset by presenting "documentation which may establish that the applicant did not disrupt the continuity of his or her residence in the United States during an extended absence."

My question is what kinds of/amount of documentation would be sufficient to successfully establish that the continuity of residence was not disrupted? Looking at the short list of recommended evidence:

(A) The applicant did not terminate his or her employment in the United States; (Can't do this, as my wife hasn't worked in several years)

(B) The applicant's immediate family remained in the United States; (Probably can't do this, as my other child and I would go with her to Thailand. (although I might return to U.S. alone in less than 6 months))

(C) The applicant retained full access to his or her United States abode; or (We can do this.  Her name is on the mortgage.)

(D) The applicant did not obtain employment while abroad. (She definitely won't work in Thailand, but how does one prove a negative?)

Her name has also been on our joint tax returns every year since 2012 if that helps. And she's on my health and car insurance policies in the U.S.  Not sure what else we could provide as evidence.

If anyone has any thoughts about this it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give advice on our situation. We filed on June 20, 2014, did 1st biometrics on 7/16/2014, were transferred to CSC on 11/18/2014, and did 2nd biometrics on 1/6/2015.

We have 2 application numbers. The first when we originally applied (and got transferred to CSC), and the second when we got the 2nd biometrics letter. i thought maybe the second number is a new one, but when I enter it on the USCIS website it is not recognized. When I enter the first number, the website just says that our case was received by our local office on 12/3/2014.

Is this all normal? Or should I contact CSC? Any thoughts would be most welcome. Thanks!

Hi,

My (Thai) wife's green card just got approved, and, if USCIS emails can be believed, she should be receiving it in a few days.

The thing is, we will be traveling to Thailand in a few weeks to have a wedding celebration with her family there. Her passport is about to expire, so while she is in Thailand she will get a new one. She wants to get the new passport in her married name, as she did for the green card.

My question is which name should we buy her airplane ticket in?

Option 1: Her maiden name?

She could show her current passport (maiden name) when she leaves the U.S., so no problems there. But when she returns to the U.S. her new passport will have a different name. I am guessing that will be a problem? Or would it be OK if she can show her old passport or the marriage certificate?

Option 2: Her married name?

She would be trying to leave the US with her current passport, would that be a problem? Could she show her green card and marriage certificate to get around this? On the return trip the new passport would have the married name so no problems.

Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Well, the topic didn't come up in the interview, and the USCIS website now says the card is in production, so I guess we're good. Thanks everyone1

Thanks for all the quick replies and kind words! I guess we should be good without rings then. The marriage certificate should be enough after all.

Well, off we go!

Hi, my wife and I are going to our AOS interview later today (in about 4 hours). At present we don't have any engagement or wedding rings, as we are planning to have a ceremonial wedding in her hometown in Thailand (hopefully in a couple months)after she gets a green card and will buy all the rings there.

I have heard some people say that not having rings at the AOS interview is not an issue, but I notice that the VisaJourney interview guide has a question about wedding rings.

Since I have been married once before, I happen to have those wedding rings still sitting around. Would it be a good idea to put on those old rings just for the purpose of the interview, or just honestly say we haven't bought rings yet?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

She does not have an A#. Please don't confuse the K-1 AOS guide or K-1 advice with the CONCURRENT I-130/I-485 guide. Would you like a link to the correct one?

Thanks for the help. I am using the concurrent I-130/I-485 guide on Visa Journey. It indicates the G325A must be submitted, and the G325A asks for an alien registration number, so that is why I was asking this question.

Sorry for this silly question I am sure has been asked many times before, but I am trying to help my wife fill out the G325A, and am puzzled what to put for "Alien Registration Number" at the bottom right corner.

I noticed some people said this number should be written on her visa, or on the back of the I-94, but as far as I can tell I don't see any numbers starting with "A" in either place. She came over on an F-1 visa from Thailand, if that makes any difference.

Where would this number be written? Is it part of the long string of numbers across the very bottom of the visa? There is an "A" in the middle of that. Or I see there is a 10 digit number starting with an "N" under "Annotation" - this is also handwritten on the back of the I-94.

I'm sure the answer must be obvious, but if anyone can point it out to me that would be a big help.

Thanks!

It is not specifically requested, but most F1/J1 adjusters do include copies of I-20s and DS-2019s, as they show that the person has maintained their status while in the US. If your wife is out of status, then the I-20 probably won't serve any purpose. I doubt they'll ask for it if you don't include it. However, just for future reference, you want to keep originals and copies of ALL immigration/visa related papers and correspondence that your wife has/gets.

Great, thanks for your help! I figured the I-20 wouldn't help our I-485 filing much, since she hasn't been to school since we were married. I guess I will leave it out then.

And good point about keeping all documents.

Hi, I have been prepping materials for a concurrent I-130/I-485 filing (adjustment for my wife from student status) based on the helpful guides provided on this site.

I had not given any thought to obtaining a copy of my wife's I-20, mostly because it is not mentioned as necessary in the this site's I-485 guide, but also because she has not attended school in more than a year so the I-20 would be quite out of date anyway.

However, I have seen some people in the forum mention that the I-20 must be included with the I-485. Is this the case? And if so is a copy sufficient? I am not even sure if we have a copy of this document handy at the moment.

Thanks for your help!

I recently got married to my wife (Thai national - student living in US) in the US, and am currently rushing through the process of filing the I-130 and I-485 applications to adjust her status because her visa will expire very soon. I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone might be able to provide on the following topics to expedite this process:

1) Can someone please clarify whether original, certified documents of birth and divorce certificates are necessary for the I-130 and I-485 applications, or if photocopies are sufficient?

I have seen a few threads about the topic here, but the situation is still not clear to me. I saw some people say photocopies are OK for USCIS but certified copies are needed for NVC, but I'm afraid I don't understand what that means in terms of stages of the application process. When I am making my initial submission of the I-130 and I-485, do I need certified copies? If I don't need them now but later, when would I need them? (at the interview?)

Getting her birth certificate from Thailand is a pain but not too bad, but getting an original copy of my Japanese divorce certificate (I was divorced in Japan) would be very difficult from the US (especially since time is limited and I don't have any contacts in Japan at this time). I'm hoping I can get away with a photocopy of the divorce certificate.

2) Also, both the Thai birth certificate and Japanese divorce certificates need to be translated. Does anyone have any recommendations for fast, cheap certified translation services in the U.S.?(I'm in the Washington DC area, but I guess there are online translation services)

Thanks very much to anyone who can help!