BBCC

On 4/3/2017 at 11:12 AM, MrWorldwide said:

Thanks for your answers!

 

This is all hypothetical. But basically, I don't know that I will get onto a PhD program, and priority No. 1 is being with my fiance and residing in the US together. My situation is just slightly complicated by the fact that sometime during that entire process, the opportunity of a PhD was presented and so I am considering all options. 

I think the most realistic option by the looks of it is to study in the US instead. But in searches on the web, I have came across individuals who have managed to do similar to what I am talking about, albeit a hassling process, so I would be interested to see if there is any way around this whatsoever. 

As others have posted, a re-entry permit is required for absences longer than one year.  If you are gone longer than six months but less than one year, it is a good idea to have one but you can still enter without it (the border officer will probably just remind you of needing one for absences longer than one year).  As you have already probably read, the permit is good for two years.  You also need to be physically present for the biometric appointment (fingerprints, photo at a USCIS office) once the app is initially approved.  So based on all of this, I would recommend that you want to get a re-enry permit valid from June or July.  That way, your green card would be preserved for two years until the academic summer recess two years later.  Then you would need to return to the US for that summer and begin the application process for a new re-entry permit.  Handling the re-entry permit applications at these times would not impact any academic residency requirements at your university (you're off handling the re-entry permit during university recess).  Just a thought.

No.  I read in the instructions that the income thresholds are based on household income.  Should be fine.

22 hours ago, aa0921 said:

I am actually still thinking on whether to apply for one or not. I will be leaving last week of April. And one more reason why I can't decide is the money, cause I know the re-entry permit would cost around $600. 

Yes, anything involving USCIS costs money.

We debated the same before we left because we expected to be gone just under a year.  But then we thought about what would happen if we were asked to stay longer or in any other way delayed.  So we decided to get the permit.  We ended up extending an additional year.  In fact, we came home a few weeks after the re-entry permit expired.  When we extended the additional year, our plan was to arrive home a few weeks before the expired.  By the time we realized we were going to run over, it was too late to return home to get a new permit.  So we just came home on the expired permit.  The border officer at airport arrivals hall looked at the expired permit on our return home and didn't say anything about the expiration.  "Welcome home" is all he said.  I would presume that one cannot necessarily expect this will happen in general but that is what happened to us.

On 2/13/2017 at 5:58 PM, geowrian said:

It's not explicitly required, but I would absolutely recommend it. Any travel over 6 months is going to raise suspicion of abandonment of your LPR status. A re-entry permit lets you leave for up to 2 years under the presumption that you are not intending to abandon it.

Yes officially you don't need one for absences less than 12 months, however, we have had more than one border guard recommend getting one for any absence more than six months.

You'll be fine with a re-entry permit. We returned over the summer from a two year work assignment in Europe using the re-entry permit to preserve the green card.

I think there is a guide somewhere here on how to apply for it. You only need to be present in the US for the biometric appointment that you will be requested for after you submit the application. After that, you can even elect to have it delivered to your foreign location at the nearest consulate.

The permit is good for two years. It cannot be renewed but you are free to apply for a new one when the old one expires.

Same thing happened to us. We just replaced the check and sent everything else in again as-is. They took it.

We are receiving periodic emails to update our timeline.

My green card process completed a few years ago and I have no intention of proceeding with the citizenship process.

Is there a way to indicate this in my profile?

Thanks.

They stamp passports when you arrive by air. Usually not by land. Sometimes they don't even have a stamp in the booth you drive up to but it might be easier to get one if you go through as a pedestrian because you walk inside through the secondary inspection area.

No worries, thanks for the information.

I think they have tried seeking counselling, but to no avail.

Perhaps the US spouse isn't threatening taking the physical green card away but seeking to withdraw sponsorship of the legal status and benefits it provides?

With the posting link, immigration will get her IP address.

Holy cow. Does this actually happen?!?!?

We had a re-entry permit during the conditional Green Card period, both with the same expiration.

We then applied for a new one when the ten year card came.

So far, so good with getting the permits.

Keeping both the re-entry permits and proofs of US residency (driver license) has made all the difference for us when returning from extended stays for work in China and Taiwan.

When we went through the ROC process earlier this year, we had not yet merged our bank accounts.

We actually did so only in the month we were submitting our I-751. In fact, we didn't send bank account statements that month. We submitted everything except financials, obtained joint financial statements at the next month and then mailed them to USCIS when we received them. We only sent that most recent month's statement. They didn't send a RFE asking for any additional financial information. The new green card was approved three months later.

Now I know the conventional wisdom here is to send a full two years of bank statements.

But for us, it wasn't needed.

So my advice would be merge whatever financial statements that you can. Show joint assets. Show financial liabilities. It's not too late to quick deed your home to a joint mortgage, if that is possible where you live.

Do all you can and submit the documentation. Just do your best.

We're wondering the same thing. My wife's brother is with a British passport and we plan to enter together from Canada by car in the autumn. There is no specific mention that he is able to apply online prior to crossing in this case. So it is allowed?

That was what we were surprised about at the border. The only information online from the CBP web pages is the citation, artfully quoted by kittykat. Careful reading of that page makes no mention of an available option of saving time by applying online prior to arrival at a land border crossing. The officer that handled our applications informed us we could do so. So feel free to use that option if you like.

Can I add my wife's name on the car title? isn't it too late to do now? they demand the documents to be from the date we were married..

I can add the car insurance in both of our names as well as I didn't include that in the initial package. Any suggestions? can they reject our application all together? should we get a lawyer's advice/representation? Thanks!

No, not too late to add her to the car title. We joined the bank accounts the same month we filed our I-751 and it wasn't denied.

Go for it!

Don't worry about them rejecting your application. It's just a RFE at this point. A final rejection is a long way off.

They'll probably take whatever you can gather together the 2nd time around and you'll be good to go.

Send whatever you can.

If you think they overlooked your health insurance, send it in as if you haven't sent it before. Can't hurt.

ROC is, and should be, one of the lowest priority things for USCIS to do. You get your extension letter for a year, and life is normal for you after your GC expires. They have a year to get back to you. There is no need to go fast. Let the people who are separated go faster.

!!!!!

I received RFE today. I pretty much sent everything we got the first time and they are asking it again?

We initially sent all these documents:

Marriage Certificate.

Joint Bank Statements.

Joint Costco Memberships.

Amex Credit Cards Copies and Statements.

Joint Tax Returns (Turbotax Online).

Copies of ID's License and Wifey's Intruction Permit.

Copies of Cable and Cellphone Bills on Both Names.

Copy of Vehicle Title on Both Names.

2 Affidavits from Relative and Friend.

Pictures of me and wifey with relatives and friends.

Now, I am going to add additional bank statements, tax transcripts, W2's, cable and cellphone bills, credit cards.

We do not have car insurance with my wife on it since she doesn't know how to drive yet. does vehicle title on both names count?

We do not have lease or house payments except for cable and cellphone bills on our both names but we are the ones who's paying for water, power and waste under dad's name since we are living at my dad's house.

Does sending or adding invitations from credit card companies count as proof of same address?

Your initial list is remarkable. Very good. And they still RFE'd? Wow. The case reviewer may have been looking for proof of joint residence (joint lease or mortgage) but since you don't have one all you can do is add to the additional list of evidence you are providing.

Does the employer of either of you provide a basic life insurance? Many employers do. It isn't for much but if they listed their spouse as the beneficiary, that would help. Look through your employment records for *anything* that asked you to specify a beneficiary and put copies of those documents on your list.

You want to make sure that all of the financial statements you send are addressed at your joint home address, even if you don't have a lease/mortgage to show at the address.

They are looking for joint ownership of assets and obligations. Next, you can continue to use the evidence of communication and other secondary components of the list of evidence.

Given how strong your list was to begin with, anything further you add may be adequate at this point.

Good luck!

I see a number of posts with links to the family-sponsored visa bulletins but many are to a specific point in time and expire.

Here is a link to the top level menu where you can select whatever the latest available bulletin is, for the relevant country you are applying from: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin.html

I can appreciate the accuracy at times may be in question but it's a start.

Yeah, unfortunately siblings of USC is the most oversubscribed visa category. It was taking 11+ years back in 2013, now it's 12+ years. The only way that would move faster is if Congress ever raises the annual limit on family based preference visas.

My wife's cousin applied for a brother in Taiwan in 1998. Case processing was completed at the end of 2012 and he just landed in May 2014. This has to be one of the longest processing times of any of the general visa processes. Patience is a virtue in this stream.

Does anyone know if it's possible to do so? I ask because i only sent the last month's statement of our joint account instead of sending in a selection over the course of a few years. I would like to avoid having an RFE.

Now I have my NOA it says to send a copy of it in with any correspondence.

Thanks!

Many here swear that you should never submit documents without the RFE first as it will delay your application.

I have no doubt this has been the case for some.

But in our case, we did not include our evidence of co-mingled finances with our initial I-751 package.

In the cover letter, we stated that we would forward these when they arrived in the mail.

About a month later, we sent in only the most recent month's bank statement showing co-ownership and not for the entire previous two years. We did so without having received an RFE.

Seems inconsistent.

Good to know! I have a neighbour checking on our cat and mail, so she will be able to bring it in for me Thanks!

We were in Canada, too. Over the holiday week. Victoria habour fireworks on Canada Day. Beautiful.

Thanks so much. I love hearing other people's experiences. I'm actually the wife!! My husband is Irish. We've been together 11 years, living in Ireland for 10 years, married almost 7 years, 3 kids together, own a house together, lots of pictures, joint accts in Ireland and the US, wills naming each other, etc.... So it should be a pretty straight forward interview, I'm hoping!! My husband is just terrible at remember dates and stuff, so I hope he's not quizzed about these details... though we'll prepare just in case! I'm going to be a nervous wreck at work while he's in his interview. I wish I could be there, for support if nothing else.

Sounds like you are all set! Nothing to worry about. He'll do great!

When the new card arrives, do you have to sign for it? Or is it just like regular mail? I am going to be in Canada for a week in August and am kind of worried that it may get lost somehow. I guess if I have to sign for it, I could always let the post office know I am out of town and maybe expecting something that needs to be signed and ask them to hold it for me...

It would be nice for it to arrive before my trip, which is in 2 weeks. I guess there is a chance that could happen, but who knows?

We were out of town when it was delivered. It was on our doorstep in a US postal service priority envelope when we arrived home, only a week after we received noticed that it had been approved..

VSC approval 7/16

You can file a zero-income tax return if that is what you need for the purpose of the I-864. As posted already, you don't need to file any of the Form 2555 because you have no income to exclude. So, no need to declare the type of housing you were in for that tax year.

My question is this: can we end our joint account now and have her open her own account? We still have another 9 months before she is eligible to remove conditions, is it absolutely vital to have a joint account? We have plenty of other evidence,

The co-mingling of domicile and finances are the most important indications that USCIS use as proof of a bona fide relationship. There are other indications, but these are the big ones. For this reason, yes, I would say it is vital to keep that joint account open when you file for ROC.

You could possibly compensate a lack of a joint bank account with accumulating some of the other documents, but why go to all that trouble? The joint account is a strong indicator to them.

For our ROC, we used our joint bank account that really didn't have a lot of financial transactions listed on the joint bank statement. This was not an issue to USCIS. They approved our I-751 with it, no questions asked. Because of this, perhaps you could consider each of you open your own separate bank accounts at the present time and still maintain separate finances if that is what you need to do. But just hang on to the joint account and keep a small amount of activity on it.

You will also want to use a statement from a joint bank account a little after that to file for Naturalization, assuing that is also in your plan.

It is a good idea to keep the joint account open only as long as you intend to file immigrations or petitions. Once you've concluded your business with USCIS, then go ahead and close the joint account.