FilH

It will be fine. Good luck.

Thanks. Yes, we were happy we could get to St. Louis today. Our appointment was for Pittsburgh. All is well.

As planned, we took the trip from Branson, Missouri to St. Louis this morning. We arrived at 11:00AM, parked the car, fed the meter two hours worth of change, walked in, went through security, told them what happened and they gave us a clipboard and form to fill out. A few minutes later they called my wife, did the biometrics and were done. I chatted with one of the workers while she was getting it done. I told him what happened and said I figured there had to be some leeway before they denied the application for abandonment. He said that there was, but they would never tell us that.

We got back to the car in a total of 20 minutes. The people in St. Louis were fantastic, very professional and very nice. We could have been to the car quicker had we not stood and chatted with them a while.

We then went on to enjoy the day before making the four hour drive back home. We went out to lunch, then went to the Arch and went to the top. My wife had seen it when we moved, but had no idea you could actually go inside, let alone go up to the top. We had a great day.

Well it is worth a try but you have to do it ASAP otherwise, they consider your application abandoned.

Yes, we are doing it tomorrow. We got the notice Friday. If this doesn't work, we will go from there. I'm aggravated it took two and a half weeks to get the mail. The sent it on May 18 and we received it on June 5.

Well, we were excited yesterday when we received the notice for the biometrics appointment, unfortunately yesterday was June 5 and the appointment was June 1.

We had to move shortly after we began the process and had out mail forwarded. We are only here in Missouri temporarily and our Pennsylvania address is still our permanent address. Our original plan was to try to get the biometrics done in the Missouri area if possibly by doing a walk in, if they wouldn't do it, my wife was going to fly back to Pittsburgh for the appointment. Now we have a problem.

Monday we are going to drive to either St. Louis or Kansas City to see if we can do a walk in, if not we will send the paper back to reschedule. We are hoping it will work and we won't have to refile or appeal. If we cannot get it done by doing a walk in, we may do an INFOPASS.

I have read that others have had the same issue and have successfully done a walk in, but any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

Same thing happened to us today to. Got an email saying our status had changed to card production. 2 hours later got another email saying our status had changed to decision. Either way we were approved!

That's how we got the emails. I thought it funny they sent the card production email before the decision email.

Congrats! We were approved today, also with no interview.

Mine has taken 9 months so far. Still shows "Acceptance."

Don't feel bad, we applied in September and have not yet heard anything. You aren't alone, hang in there.

Complaining is the wrong word really. Inquiring is probably a better word. I was shocked when I got the email on Monday. What I was expecting to hear was that it was being looked at and I would hear something at some unspecified time in the future.

I'm sorry yours has taken so long and hopefully it will come through soon.

It isn't an issue for us, we knew it would take a while. Congrats to you once again.

I'm not sure why you were complaining but I'm glad it worked for you. There are many people who have been waiting longer and my wife and I are among those. We filed for AOS in September.

We filed in September as well, and are still waiting. We have received no RFEs so all we have heard is silence. Some day soon...

70 days? Don't feel bad, you're in the early stages. We have been waiting approximately 240 days and 180 since biometrics. Relax, be patient, have a snack.

We got the EAD in about 4 months.

Found through a Google search:

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/indonesia-indonesie/visas/visiting-visiter.aspx?lang=eng

Google can be your friend too.

I also searched on Google, I do not believe you would need a visa if you have a greencard. Here is a page from Citizen and Imigration Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=593&t=16

"

As a (U.S. Green Card holder, you do not need a temporary resident visa to travel to Canada. At the Canadian border, you will need to present your valid passport and Green Card."

I would research it a bit more, but I beleive you will be okay. What was posted above was for Indonesian citizens not residing in the US and who do not have a US greencard.

We got our interview about 6 weeks after Biometrics. Not in Phoenix, in San Francisco. But usually it seems if you are going to get an interview, it will happen quick. Or maybe other places but not Phoenix...

We did our biometrics the end of November. It was scheduled for December 10 but we did a walk in. Our status still says it is in the acceptance stage despite the fact we have already done the biometrics and have received the EAD. I don't place a lot of faith in the status updates.

I don't think you have to worry about it. You have fulfilled the requirements for biometrics already. I personally wouldn't worry about it. It should be in the system that you have already had the biometrics done.

Here is a document from USCIS website about your exact situation.

http://www.uscis.gov/err/H2%20-%20Waiver%20of%20Inadmissibility%20-%20Criminal%20-%20212%20%28h%29/Decisions_Issued_in_2009/Jan232009_04H2212.pdf

I'm not sure that is the exact situation. The OP was convicted once, and has finished probation successfully. The pdf file you posted shows a case in which the person was convicted more than once. Of course there is still a conviction so they may still deny the petition. I would recommend in this case to speak to a lawyer. The will better be able to help you in this kind of matter.

First, not everyone believes in God so some people would find your assumption that they do, or that there IS a God, insulting. Also, what if said person is missing limbs for whatever reason? Sometime being snarky can be meaner than you intended.

And secondly no. In my area there are no buses, trains, taxis, subways etc. I live in small-town America. No licence means riding my bike or walking. The nearest town is a 15 minute drive doing 55mph, and even then it's not a big town. Nearest BIG town is 45 minute drive doing 65mph on the freeways.

Amen. I am always amazed at the attitude of people who live in large cities. For those who purport to be so enlightened, they have no real idea what life is like outside their area. No all areas have easily accessible mass transit. Not all areas have taxis, and many time if they do, it is a huge fare to get to where you need to go. Simply a ride statement.

We sent a certified copy as well. We ordered a certified copy to keep for our use also. The certified copy is good to have for identification purposes until your spouse has a driver's license. My wife uses her passport and marriage certificate to verify her name change when necessary.

Mine was received on October 25 and no, my check hasn't yet been cashed. I haven't checked today though. Be patient, they will process it.

This is directly from the instructions for the I-134:

"If you are sponsoring more than one alien, you must submit a separate Form I-134 for each alien. Form I-134 must be signed in your full name. (Note: Signing Form I-134 is under penalty of perjury under U.S. law). For this reason, it is not necessary to sign Form I-134 before a notary, nor to have your signature notarized after you sign it."

Oh and yes, I had asked my employer and my HR guy gave me some bullshit line of - 'its against the law for me to disclose to anyone, even in a letter for you, of how much you make.' he could be referring to company rules when he says law, i don't know. i will try to get the electronic copies of my paystubs.

Actually your HR guy may in fact be correct. It was always against the law for a potential creditor to call and verify your income when you were applying for a loan. They could verify you worked there, but not your income. It may still be the same.

I don't know how many other people prefer this to Skype, but for me this has been a great service. For the first 10 months of our separation (time away from each other, divided by countries and oceans), we used a combination of Skype and calling cards. She could Skype me, and I could call her. However, problems seemed to arise when I'd call just to ask if she wanted to talk or not. Because she couldn't call me when she had time (i.e. not on the metro, not in a meeting, etc.), me being the only one able to call was becoming a problem.

Thank You,

Scafidi454

I bought the unlimited international plan from Skype which allowed me to make unlimited calls to any phone including cell phones. Thankfully Thailand was included in the plan while many European countries were not regarding cell phones. I could could call her cell phone and talk as long as we wanted as often as we wanted. That also gave us a record of the calls with her phone number on it. The plan was only $14.95 per month. I bought three months at a time for a slight discount.

I love visajourney and appreciate any input you guys can offer on my situation. I am a US citizen and I live in California with my wife and minor stepdaughter. My wife came to US on a K1 and daughter on a K2 from Cambodia, and now they both have conditional green cards. We have lived together here for 1.5 years and now have a 1 month old baby. We are all happy together, but things are a bit rough for us, and we want to move back to Cambodia. In Cambodia, my wife and I had high-paying jobs, and a support system of my wife's family members. We also own a large plot of land in a nice area of Siem Reap. Here, we are in debt up to our noses and on a downward spiral working minimum wage jobs. My parents and siblings don't get along with my wife. My stepdaughter attends a gritty LA public school.

We worked hard getting the visas and green cards. However, my wife's home country is calling us back and the urge to get up and go is strong. Our main concern is my stepdaughter. We want her to have US citizenship like her new sister. We don't want her to blame us when she is older if she is stuck in Cambodia. We fear that leaving with her will bar her from future re-entry to the US.

Thanks for reading! Thoughts?

My thought would be to move to another part of the US that is cheaper. You are in one of the costliest parts of the US with schools I would never want to have my children in. There are many places in the States that are much cheaper to live with decent schools and communities.

Personally I have been asked to move there for my business, I'm an entertainer, and I have refused, choosing instead to work from a much cheaper area. I would still have to fly from LA so to move there I would in effect take a pay cut and the quality of living would be lower as well.

All that being said, if you liked living in Cambodia and can get good jobs there and have family you will have to decide what is most important to you and your family.

Best wishes to you and your family.