Poolshark

Hola mis gentes,

We want to try to bring my husband's son to live with us. We have only been married 2 years. Earlier, we didn't have the money and now Nelson is over 21, In reading USCIS, it seems that we would have had to be married when Nelson was 18 or before in order for me to bring him as a stepson. Now we would have to petition for his father as a greencard holder which would make him 2b in the visa line. If I am wrong, tell me.

how long is this visa line for Honduras? Apparently it varies from country to country.Any other helpful hints would be appreciated.

AOS costs $1070 within 90 days

About the flights. I look at arifares online all the time trying to learn when they go and when they go down. There is a lot of difference whether it is near a holiday or the kids are out of school. Also booking in advance lowers the fee.

Two comments...My husband and I decided to marry after spending 11 days together. I was introduced to him over the phone by a friend of the family who knew I was planning a trip alone to his country, Honduras.

I flew there twice a year, 7 times in all, counting going to get him in February 2013. We got married in March, 2013.

Yes we had to immediately pop up with $1070 to Adjust his status.

BTW he received his card yesterday. In all , it took 3 years 10 months and over $12,000. Now we are severely broke and trying to pay off all the loans. TSP will paid back April 2016.

Second, if at all possible you should go to the interview so that you can explain how expensive the flights are and how you have kept in touch thru Skype. Save every reciept, boarding pass, credit card bills, everything.

Hola

Good news/Bad news

We went for an interview in Baltimore yesterday for my husband's AOS. We did not leave with a warm and fuzzy feeling. My lawyer who helped with the fiance visa and the I-601 waiver, was aghast that we tried the Adjustment of Status without representation. We had run out of money, so I filed it myself. I think that went well, but he felt we should have taken a representative to the interview with us. I didn't even know you could.

Done now. I am older than my husband 64/42. I don't think the guy liked that.

The only bill I had with both of our names on it was the car insurance. If I had known how important it was, I would have put the gas bill, the electric bill, the water bill, the phone bill in both of our names. I have had so many things to change, plus filing for the AOS , it didn't occur to me. I will now, Monday, just in case they ask for more documentation. I just switched health plans and I have to get him a card for the new one also.

Mortgage - the house is paid for. Cellphones - we have Virgin mobile the no plan plan. Cable - we don't have cable. As you can see I was batting 0.

Nothing to do now but wait and worry. My husband is having nightmares.

In another post on here someone said very few AOS get denied. I hope he is right.

We filed 9-12-12, 1 CIMT (13 years ago), and were approved today (4 months, 3 weeks). Just fyi

Congrats!

What is CIMT?

Instead of submitting the I-601 at individual consulates, after June 4th the process was 'centralized'. Has anyone experienced this new processing and what was the processing times?

We were approved on January 25, 2013. It took a few days beyond 4 months Yay!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about our case and respond.

Do you know anything about another interview at the embassy?

We filed for the waiver last week. I have seen a goal of 4 months since they started the lockbox procedure.

My questions are relative to what are the next steps to take if we are sucessful?

For instance, when he comes here and we get married, who do we notify (and how) that the marriage has taken place?

A friend told me last night that you can apply for the SSN prior to getting the green card.

His circumstances are a little different, since he married his wife in the Dominican Republic, so they were already married when he brought her here.

When did you file the waiver? The goal is 6 months processing time. Keep in mind this is only a goal and they are not bound by that timeframe.

1. I have seen that after an I-601 is approved, there is another interview at the consulate. What is that about?

2. If our petition is sucessful, Doesn't he need a green card? How long does that take?

3. If he can get here and we get married before the end of 2012, (what an optimist!!!), couldn't we file jointly? That would recoup a lot of the money we have spent on lawyers.

4. I think we would need the green card before we go the Social Security office to apply for an ITIN or SSN. Would we have to have all that before April 15th 2013 or by December 31st 2012?

5. I think an ITIN or SSN is required by the IRS to file jointly. What if it is pending?

We filed for the lockbox procedure I-601 on September 19, 2012. Today, 9/27, still haven't received a receipt yet.

I have read in the past that Mexico had 90% of the I-601s, rather than 75%

I also read that they were getting answers as fast as 72 hours.

I have seen 6 months, 4 months and 3 months as 'goal' turnaround times.

I have NOT seen anyone posting who has been approved thru the lockbox system.

I would assume that the since Mexico has an option to continue filing in Mexico for 6 months, that the volume experienced at the lockbox facility will be low until after November. Hope that benefits us.

Gringabean thank you. The link probably refers to those still being processed in Tegucigalpa which were submitted prior to June 4th. I wish your family well, and I hope I am wrong, but I have heard that I-601s submitted to the consulate after June 4th were returned without process AND that they kept the MONEY. (Guatemala)

I hope that is not the case, but I heard it from my lawyer, that a case of theirs was submitted and returned. Pretty reliable source.

Your link has another link to the actual case numbers being processed. You can look for yours.

I have relatives in Honduras going through this process right now. They arrived at the US Embassy in Tegu on August 2nd, 2012 to submit all of their I-601 documents unknowing that the waivers were not being processed at the consulates any longer. It has been a month now and they have not heard any word on the status or location of their waiver.

I just don't understand why they were allowed to submit and leave the I-601 waiver there when it was no longer being processed at the Embassy.

After doing some digging of my own though, I did find a link that gives a fairly accurate estimate of processing time: http://honduras.usembassy.gov/dhs-uscis_waivers.html

Best of Luck to you!

My fiance is under the ten year ban, so if we don't get an I-601 approved, we have to wait until 2018. When I said, if they turn us down, do you want me to move to Honduras, he said, 'Yes, I just want us to be together.'

Also, at the interview, they are pretty good at figuring things out. If they turn him down, don't fight it.

I am so happy i found this site. I filed a petition for my fiance for a k1 visa. Recently i have been having doubts about him being genuine. Now that his interview is coming up, he is acting very strange,he always starts argument with me for no reason. He even made a few comments about he doesn't need me bugging him anymore and he will soon get his visa so he doesn't have to deal with me bugging him. We met february of 2011 and I know that he has applied for about 7 tourists visa,all were denied, is this suspicious?. I don't know what to do, my sister told me i should end things before he commits fraud. What can i do at this stage? How do i know he is planning fraud? Thanks.

-Kristina

We had our interview in November 2011. Because my fiance was subject to the 5 year ban, they said 'try again in Aug 2013'.

Since then our situation has changed. The judge reversed the case against him and he no longer has the five year ban.

We need to file the I-601, which is now centralized (at Vermont I think) as of June 4th 2012. But now our visa application has expired. Will we be able to get an extension, or do we start all over again filing another I-129?

Previously, Tegucigalpa had a backlog of one year. They are now saying processing time takes six months, but if you look at the schedule of TGG numbers, they are actually working on applications from April 2012. Milagro!

Does anybody know anything about their approval rates or how to find out the percentage of approved I-601s from this embassy?

The government has not Appealed the decision to overturn his 5 year ban, so Monday we will be on to the next step, figuring out how to get another appt and permission to file the I-601, so this is the last time you will hear from me on this post. Good news Tegucigalpa has been working on catching up on their backlog and now I-601 takes 6 months or less.

Update - Our motion to reopen was filed 2 months ago. We have received a decision in our favor. The judge ruled that not only did he/she have Jurisdiction, but that removal proceddings be terminated. Since he is already back in Honduras, the point of that is that the 5 year ban is moot.

The government has 30 days to appeal. (25 days from now)

The next step is to contact the embassy and inform them of this decision and maybe get another appointment. After that, hopefully we can start the I-601 process. Our lawyer is EXTREMELY discouraging about that. She says our hardships are as extreme as other peoples' and we can expect to wait until 2018.

Thank you. This makes it much easier on us.

If the fiancee visa isn't absolutely necessary, why do most people still opt to get it before getting married?

We chose to do the K-1 first on the theory that if they turn us down for the fiance visa, we can get married and try again. If we were already married and they turn us down, we have no recourse. I don't know if this is right or not, it is just what we thought.

This is sad and you sound young. I caution you to go slow. Living a life takes a long time and there will be many bumps in the road. Maybe you feel like you are off to a rough start, but that doesn't mean things won't get better. When you meet someone in another country and you can't spend a lot of time together, there are bound to be surprises. It is naive to think that nobody has a past. Of course, they do. You just have to treat it like time started from the here and now. If you turn down the drama and just show your loving side, someday you will love each other so much more than you do now, if you just give it time. Put your wounded pride aside and let time heal your wounds. Try to work it out. Good luck

Are you saying that there is a definite, documented bias against older women marrying younger men? Has that just been your personal experience, or do you have any statistics on their refusal rates?

They can interview us a thousand times as long as they don't say no. Salatiel wants me to quit my job and come to Honduras anyway. Maybe someday that is how it will turn out. I still have issues here in the states that hold me back, though.

I am also a lady who is 22 years older than my fiance, who is 40. We both have grown children. Childbearing in the future is not an issue. We were introduced by my friend's sister, not online.

We were asked about it(the age difference) at the interview, at least I was. They tag teamed us, separated us, then got us back together to check our answers. When this question came up, I laughed and said,' Yeah, but he is the OLD ONE!' The consular officer laughed and said, 'My wife is older than me, too, and she says I am the old one. I guess it all depends on the worldview and past experiences of the interviewer.

We are still in a holding pattern, so there is no resolution any time soon.