foreignrelations

Congratulations, Chicha!

Approved! Letter is dated 4/4. It gives the address of our local office at the bottom--odd. Best of luck to those still waiting!

One thing to keep in mind is that if you do K-1, you won't need to wait until AOS is completed before you can legally work. At the same time that you apply for AOS, you can apply for a temporary employment authorization document (EAD) that takes about 3 months and will allow you to work while you wait for your green card. Good luck!

If you wait until after ROC is complete, you'll later have to pay hundreds of dollars for a new green card if you want one with her new name on it. I don't have personal experience with this, but I think the way to go would be to fill out the application form with her new name and include an explanation of the maiden name/married name in your cover letter.

My husband changed his name while his AOS was being processed. It did not seem to raise USCIS's suspicions or cause us any problems.

Biometrics appointment set for 7/27. Thanks, Kash2011!

This may be a little off-topic, but evidence aside it's still a good idea to add your spouse's name to the title of the house. You can do this without adding her to the mortage/refinancing. I believe it costs a few hundred dollars, but the advantage is that if you pass away, she'll get the house automatically without having to go through the courts and pay probate fees on it.

Tried to add myself but couldn't get the formatting right--can you help? Mailed application to the VSC on 6/25, NOA1 dated 6/30. Thanks!

NickD, I don't expect it's any consolation, but in Maryland no one would ever get away with just checking the "US citizen" box with no proof. A co-worker of mine was even told that her original Maryland birth certificate wasn't good enough, and that she'd have to pay to get one in some new format. Fortunately she was able to use her passport instead.

The same thing happened to my husband at the Maryland MVA, and on the same day. The MVA worker said it was happening to all of the non-US citizens that day, and that they would send him a letter within a week telling him to come back and get his license. He hasn't received the letter yet. Have you heard anything?

It also took him five weeks to get a new social security card because his info had to be verified through DHS, and between learner's permit and driver's license attempts, this was his 9th trip to the MVA in a year.

Best of luck to you.

Did you already received your SS?

I am entering in the second week =(

Yes! We received it yesterday, 5 weeks after we applied.

The same thing happened to us--it's been 3 weeks and we're still waiting.

Unless a question specifically asks for her maiden name or other names used, put down her new name--the one she intends to use. Otherwise she'll end up with a green card with the wrong name on it. You likely won't be able to change her name with Social Security until you can show them an EAD or green card with the new name on it.

I know it's incredibly hard, but hang in there. My now-husband had to wait 9 months for his K-1, and we've now been waiting almost a year for his green card. It doesn't actually take forever; it just feels like it.

I checked the online case status today (which since February had been stuck on "Testing and Interview"), and lo and behold we'd skipped straight to "Card/Document Production"! I almost fell out of my chair.

You can also check this thread for someone in your area: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/231026-civil-surgeons-who-dont-rip-you-off/

Congratulations chrismanilyn! I put in a request with my senator's office last week, so I hope that will get results for us too. Did you see a change in your status online, or did the letter come out of the blue? (Just curious because I check the online status obsessively.)

About the SS card, I'm still confused! I don't know why I have a problem when the only difference is you came back twice and I went once. The name on her I-94 never changed right? And I brought my marriage license too to prove that I changed my name. So now I'm still at a loss about that. What else do I need to do to prove to them that I have a different name now, aside from the marriage certificate which I already showed them?

I can't explain what happened in the other poster's case, but in our case, my husband got an SSN with a K-1, then legally changed his name while AOS was in progress. The Social Security office wouldn't give him a new card based on his name change decree; they said he will need to show an EAD or green card in his new name before he can get a new card. So I second Harpa Timsah's recommendation that you wait to get a GC and then go back for a new SS card. In the meantime you can use the SSN, and if there is a circumstance where you need to show the actual card, just show the marriage certificate too--shouldn't be a problem. They only issue for my husband has been getting a driver's license with his new name, since in our state the MVA system is somehow tied to the Social Security system.

I can't speak to the Norway end of things, but if your fiance does have to change his name through the courts as Jay-Kay says, the procedure will be the same as if he were a US citizen. My husband ended up changing his name while AOS was in process and sending the name change order to USCIS. It wasn't a hassle to get the name updated in their system; on the other hand, it might have delayed the processing (we've currently been waiting nearly 11 months), and it was tense because for a while we didn't know whether the order would come through in time for the new name to be reflected on his green card. So if you do go have to go through the courts it might be better to wait for that process to finish up before you file your AOS application. To speed things along you could file the name change petition as soon as he gets to the States, without waiting for your wedding.

It's worth checking with your wife's parents to see if they have the birth certificate, but if not, I wouldn't stress about it. In our case the AOS interviewer only asked to see my drivers license and my husband's drivers license and passport (he's the applicant). Later we got an RFE for the joint sponsor's birth certificate, but she couldn't find it so we sent a copy of her passport instead to prove citizenship, and that was fine. So do bring her passport just in case.

Congratulations!

And you're not the last. We're still waiting...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/231026-civil-surgeons-who-dont-rip-you-off/

Good luck!

We also got an RFE for an I-693 vaccination form, despite having the vaccinations done as part of the K-1 physical. Thankfully for our stress levels, no NOID in our case (so far). We filed last October and are still waiting... hope your wait is shorter.

Just wanted to note that in our case, my husband's DS-3025 was filled out as Nich-Nick specifies but he still got an RFE for the I-693 vaccination form, so flukes can happen. The difficult part for us was finding a civil surgeon who would do just the vaccination form without a full physical.

Definitely a copy, not the original, as you'll probably never get it back.

So we just got an RFE for our I-485 for only sending the DS-3025 and not the I-693 filled out by the civil surgeon. When making the appointment to get the form filled out they said it would be $50, no problems. Unfortunately I had to work so my husband went to this appointment alone. They ended up giving him ANOTHER medical exam and testing him for tb and std's as well resulting in a $220 charge! I have called them and am arguing with them about the medical exam and charge for it due to the fact that I personally made the appt and asked the appropriate questions as well as sent him with all documentation of his vaccinations done in the UK and the RFE letter stating just the vaccination portion needed to be filled out. My question now is, should they have done a tb and std test as well? I cant seem to find any info on this. My understanding was that they were only supposed to transfer his vaccination documents from the UK to the I-693 and sign it, not do anything else...can someone please confirm? Thanks in advance!

Erikashea, you are correct that they should only have done the vaccination form--that was all that was needed. I gather it's common that civil surgeons will insist on performing a full exam even when it's not needed, but that they would do this kind of bait-and-switch is pretty egregious. Good luck.