the.ronin

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

I don't mean to sound terse, but you really need to read the directions ... just for your own good and to avoid potential problems. Again, I don't mean to be rude.

Status: Delivered

Your item was delivered at 3:39 AM on March 9, 2008 in CHICAGO, IL 60680.

delivered on a Sunday. Nice surprise now they'll get it when they pick them up Monday morning! I know there's a long wait ahead but I'm excited to get started.

We sent our's in on Friday too and after reading your post, I rushed to the USPS.com site to check on the delivery status ... DELIVERED!!

Thanks for the response! I normally file by mail anyway since I had a bad experience with eFiling several years ago when it was new.

Just to confirm (and for anyone that has done this before), I can just leave her SSN line blank and include Form W7 with the filing?

What about for state filing? Thanks again for all your help.

I was in the process of filing our taxes ... my wife came to the U.S. on a K1 Fiance visa late Sep. We are still in the AOS application process so she has not gotten a social security number.

Can I still file jointly with her and leave her SSN number blank on the tax return?

Thanks.

Thanks so much for the responses, all ...

Vaccinations are not REQUIRED for K-1 but many consulates do the whole thing. Sydney does. Your wife's consulate does. The "Vaccination Document Worksheet" your wife was given after the medical is all you need. It probably has a few "checks" to indicate that vaccine is "not age appropriate" or date when it was given, or date the lab tests confirming immunisation were done. Don't worry - it is "a sparsely populated" worksheet. Just have it transcribed as other posters advised.

I even went as far as filing only this copy from the medical, and was never asked to supply an official I-693A. But I guess I was just lucky. Don't try if you don't mind possible rfe delay

Good luck with AOS!

PS: Have you checked the bottom left corner of the vaccine worksheet? Under "2.Results" - it will tell you if it is complete or not.

What concerns me is that the document I posted in the first post was the actual document with information blurred out - it has nothing filled out ... just "FIANCE" in bold. Neither are any of the boxes checked. I'm thinking the simple answer is that we need to her vaccinations updated as we opted against it in Ciudad Juarez for the K1 interview.

Thanks guys ... link to a great a great thread on Dr. Arnold is here for anyone curious.

Unfortunately, I think we will need to get my wife's vaccinations updated. Since we had gone through the K1, vaccinations were not required. Can anyone else that went through the K1 confirm this?

thanks krikit

x10 kajillion!

My then fiance had to take a medical exam prior being interviewed in Ciudad Juarez for her K1 Fiance visa. The VJ guide suggested that if such is the case, we'd only need to file the vaccination supplent I-693A. The guide did not include a link to this form nor does the USCIS site have this form.

The only medical document we were allowed to keep after the K1 interview was a sparsely populated "Vaccination Document Worksheet" ...

Potentially really stupid question then ... do we need to have a medical examination done prior to submitting the I-485 application package?? Thanks for bearing with me ...

Thanks for the response j and c ... so you would recommend putting in a date that is about 3 months from the date you submitted the application?

The directions also indicated that AP is issued sparingly and meant for emergencies ... my wife just misses and wants to see her family again. Would this generally invalidate our request for AP?

Thanks for the reply, Mae ... that is what I thought, just needed confirmation. Thanks!

My then fiance entered the U.S. on a K1 visa back on Sep 29 2007. We got married well within the 90 day grace period on Dec 1, 2007. Our minister had neglected to provide a complete address on the marriage certificate delaying the process by a month or so. We have just finally gottan the marriage certificate and are ready to send in the AOS application.

Would it be worth including an explanation of why we are late in applying for AOS? I had kept a good paper trail on the delay of the marriage certificate. Or would an explanation just bring attention to the timing?

Thanks for any advice.

On Form I-131, it asks for the "Date of Intended Departure" ... guidance please?

Are you only allowed to go on that date? What if the form has not been processed by that time? Do they send you a permit or paperwork allowing you to re-enter the U.S.? Is it ultimately good for only 1 exit / 1 re-entry?

Thanks a lot folks ... this one is confusing me.

[edit] BTW, my wife is here on a K1 Visa.

Thanks for the response ... my concern was primarily based on whether my wife, a non-resident “out of status”, can be considered in the allowances.

As to the number of allowances ...

- Enter "1" for yourself if no one else can claim you as a dependent

- Enter "1" if:

You are married, have only one job, and your spouse does not work

- Enter "1" for your spouse.

Doesn’t that get me to 3 without exposing myself to a huge liability come tax time?

Thanks again!

Currently my wife (K1) is “out of status.” We got married well within the 90 days K1 stipulation, however our minister did not put his city and state in the address box delaying our marriage certificate by another month.

In any event, can I still change my filing status to reflect 3 allowances (she is a full-time student) even though she is not a resident, much less conditional, much less even under “adjustment of status”?

Thanks again for the great responses.

Kathryn, actually she was issued "employment authorization" at the San Ysidro (San Diego) point of entry. I had also read that only JFK was issuing EAD and was pleasantly surprised when the border agent insisted that EAD came automatically with the K-1, going so far as to offer to stamp her passport "employment authorized" if "it would make me feel better" haha.

Thank you though for the clarification.

ELW thank you so much for the prompt and reassuring reply. Actually it's for my wife

Yes, the SSN is proving to be elusive. We wanted to wait to get married to get an SSN under her married name. But doing so broke the 10 day (?) before EAD expiration guideline for SSN issuance. Now we are stuck waiting for the EAD renewal under AOS to get the SSN.

Morale of the story? Don't take a breather after the K1. If anything, timing immediately after the K1 is more of the essence than anywhere else in the process ... I'm realizing that the hard way.

Thanks again and Happy and Safe Holidays!!

There are a number of items we still need to get for AOS filing. What happens during the time between the end of the K1 90 day period and AOS? Is my fiance is technically illegal??

We crossed the border Sep 29, got married Dec 1, and are still waiting for the marriage license to process (4-5 weeks according to the county recorder). We also still need to get her medical examination.

Also, we going to need to wait until she gets her EAD renewal to get her social security # right?

Thanks a lot for any feedback.

Ok we're somewhat stuck in a bind here ... we waited to get her social security number until after we got married so it can be under her married name. Now that we are married, I wanted to put her as a dependent on my company health plan but the HR department says they need a SSN ... and it needs to be filed WITHIN 30 DAYS of the marriage!! Of course that is Dec 31 and there's only 2 more weeks of work. Since we just got married last weekend, we haven't even put in for the marriage certificate which I assume she would need to bring with her to the SS office to have a SSN under her name.

Please help - any advice greatly appreciated.

[edit] For what it's worth, she was given employment authorization (stamped in her passport on separate sheet) upon entry into the U.S.

We just got one too!!!! Thanks all for clarifying. What scumbugs to try and take advantage of people in our situations when we are already walking on eggshells.

Under the K1 visa, how does one facilitate a return to the foreign national's country under an emergency circumstance?

Specifically, her nephew has fallen very very ill. He did not wake up and was taken to the hospital. We moved to the U.S. just over 1 month ago and have yet to marry (scheduled for Dec 1) and as such have yet to file AOS nor advanced parole. I understand that under emergency circumstances, the foreign national can go back and return to the U.S.

Any clarification, advice and comments would be greatly appreciated.

All the research I had done on the interwebs prior to our crossing into the U.S. under her K1 fiance visa consistently suggested that the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) is not issues at the POE (although some instances report EAD issuance at the JFK airport POE).

For kicks and giggles, I went ahead and asked the border official processing our I-94 whether you could go ahead and issue us an EAD. His immediate reaction was to inform us that the K1 automatically authorizes employment!! Then he asks if I would feel better if he stamped the I-94 ... “EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZED”.

Have I been misunderstanding this whole time???

We've just barely recooperated from the K1 interview extravaganza in Ciudad Juarez and are now just refocusing our sites on the AOS ... in all likelihood, we'll be going to the same location you did in L.A. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

Ok thanks again folks ... I must have come across some misinformation then which indicated that even if you marrie with 90 days, after 90 days she will be considered illegal, need to return to her home country, and will have to file K3.

So just to clarify, even if we married day 89, we can still file AOS, say, day 120 and be ok?? Is that accurate?

Thank you for such a quick response, raymaga ... ok another point of clarification please ...

We MUST file AOS before 90 days is over upon crossing, irregardless of marriage, right? Even if we married within 90 days, after 90 days, she is considered illegal and must return to her home country and apply for the K3 visa, right? Damn that's scary. Ok, so does this mean that the AOS application just needs to be post-marked before the 90 day deadline or received by them (i.e., I've gotten a "NOA" indicating receipt)?

Damn I'm nervous. We've focused all of our energy on the K1 thus far that we didn't really allocate much energy to thinking ahead. We figured we would have the 6 month duration of the K1 before she had to cross and use that time to work through post-K1 issues. Ack.

Ok happy K1ers, my fiance and I are preparing to cross the border tomorrow morning at the San Ysidro POE in California.

I understand that at the POE, we are to fill out the Form I-94 Arrival- Departure document. I've also heard that for San Ysidro specifically, it is $6.00 and they do not take change (friends went through exact same process). I understand it is critical to keep the I-94 until the interview as it validates date of entry.

I hear that the border agent will open the sealed envelope - do they keep it or give it back?

I've been told that they proceed to stamp the passport and insert the I-94 inside.

Big question - are they still issuing the 90-day Employment Authorization Document (EAD)? I heard that has become increasingly rare since 2001.

Anything else?

Thanks so much for the advice!

[edit] Oh yeah, I had verified (twice) with border agents that it is perfectly ok to cross either via car or on foot at any time of day for K1 visa processing (I presume any visa) ... that by car, you will just get sent to secondary and if on foot outside of the permit office business hours, you will just get sent outside to secondary. For anyone that's crossed via San Ysidro, any confirmation / advice greatly appreciated on this as well.