Ruffie

Thanks for the reply, Ruffie. I'd love to have interview and oath here in Germany, but I am not qualified for section 319(e) yet, because I got my first green card (2years green card) last year, so I haven't been a permanent resident for 3 years yet.)

That is why if I wanted to apply for naturalization, I have to use 319(b) which waives 3 years residency requirement, and have interview and oath in the States.

I know how inconvenient it is and I really wish I could obtain citizenship without traveling back to the States...

oooooooooooh, I see. Well when would you reach the 3 year residency requirement? Do you "have" to apply for naturalization now? Maybe consider waiting? After all, you can apply 90 before reaching that 3 year mark. It just depends if the flight(s)/costs to the US are worth having it sooner? But then again, if you want to wait for the 3 year mark, you'd have to file ROC, too, so that's extra cost too. hmmm... ya, that's a stupid situation :-(

Ruffie, a question for my friend, can she apply to Frankfurt Embassy or does she have to apply to Nebraska?

Are they here with the military? Any military folks HAVE to send their application to Nebraska either way. If they mark on the application that they're trying to apply under 319(e), it'll get forwarded to Frankfurt. Also, after the application is sent, they have to contact Frankfurt who will then email a document that they need to fill out and return to the Consulate.

You could just file for the overseas naturalization of military spouses under section 319(e) and do EVERYTHING in Germany - My link

The whole process took about 9 weeks for me early this year. I filed the N-400 on January 6th and had interview and oath ceremony at the consulate in Frankfurt on 15 March. It works REALLY quick

I would change after the ceremony

We filed after may 1st, and from what i have been told, she needs to get her vaccinations updated and then we mail in everything 1 original and one copy of everything with a copy of the biographic page of her passport. i am just a little confused on if i need to send in a copy of mine as well? thanks for all the help.

No, you don't need to send a copy of YOUR passport. Otherwise it would be mentioned on the checklist.

You went to the medical without getting her immunizations updated first? The average applicant in Germany needs to have their DTaP updated and to provide proof they'd had TWO MMR shots and either suffered from or were vaccinated against varicella. But the complete list can be found here.

Did you file the I-130 before May?? Reason I'm asking is that the Consulate has changed how things are handled starting May 1st. If you filed your stuff BEFORE, then you just fax the check list to the Consulate and she BRINGS all the required documents and her passport to the Consulate at the time of her visa interview.

If you filed after the system changed, then you send the required documents to the Consulate and wait for the visa interview invitation letter to arrive. Then she takes her passport to the interview with her.

I'm a big fan of speaking the truth...

USCIS does not process visa applications, visa applications are processed by Embassies and Consulates and it is State Department personnel that is doing the processing work.

Fine. Even more reason for USCIS not to "care" then

First of all - of course USCIS doesn't care about separations. It's not their job to care, it's their job to process a gazillion of visa applications and that they do. It simply takes as long as it takes, sorry. And it's not like you can't visit her and vice versa while you wait for your visa to be all done and ready :-)

SO new question- haha- on the link you sent, it asks for evidence of Bonafide Marriage- well, we do not meet any of the suggested criteria since we were both students last year and haven't lived in a property together/have a shared bank account etc. Will they accept documents that show the nature of our relationship prior to the marriage, such as call records?

thanks again!

Include each other on each other's bank accounts, add each other on credit cards, house/appartment lease contracts and so on. The more evidence you have, the less likely you are to receive a Request For Evidence (RFE) during your CR-1 visa process.

Thank you I am hoping it is quick like yours appears to have been.

I'm sure it will. Mine happened so quickly, for a second it was TOO quick I sent an email to the Consulate inquiring if they had the correct address and if they could send the invitation letter to our house address in Germany instead of the APO as we don't check it too often. Since my status on the USCIS website was still at initial review, I wasn't expecting anything any time soon. And what do you know... the next day they emailed me the interview letter for a week later!

So from the day we mailed it off until the interview/oath, it was roughly 10 weeks only

I went through the overseas naturalization process in Germany. I suppose it's basically the same as in the UK.

Good luck

So basically you just wasted a truck load of money and time on a K-1 and AOS fees, just to end up going home and losing the greencard again? Way to go

Wow, it's hard to believe that we haven't all finished by now Keeping my fingers crossed for all kinds of interview/appointment letters arriving soon

Not really sure what the benefit of an expedited ROC is supposed to be? You're perfectly fine to travel with your NOA and chances are you'll receive your new GC in a few weeks anyway.

Hi! I'm a military wife and currently waiting for my ROC to be approved (filed in January 2012). My husband and I were looking at the N-400 eligibility requirements and one of them was:

• Have lived within the state, or USCIS district with jurisdiction over the applicant's place of residence, for at least 3 months prior to the date of filing the application.

The earliest date I can file is January 2013 and we were planning on sending my packet then but we will be moving to a new duty station (different state) in April 2013. I know we will need to file at the Nebraska Service Center no matter where we live but because we're moving to a different state, should we wait until July 2013 to file my N-400 instead (to fulfill the 3 month state residency requirement)? Or is it okay to move while you have a N-400 pending? We're just worried that it would create a lot more problems since we'll be moving to a new USCIS district.

Honestly, I would avoid moving while your N-400 is pending. Unless you can be sure to get the whole process finished and done with before your move, I would just wait until after your move. However, I'm pretty sure they don't care about the 3 months residency stuff when it comes to military and their dependents.

Just to make sure you don't learn facts incorrectly as a future Army wife - when he's being sent to Colorado that is NOT a deployment. That's most likely gonna be where he is permanently stationed. Deployments mean tours in usually hostile areas.

Honestly, it seems a lot of times they send out a RFE just to stall for time and be able to put your file on the bottom of the stack again - seeing how they're always drowning in work and stuff. I would send again all the stuff you already sent.

I honestly believe that people who have nothing to hide don't have anything to worry about in the interview. I like to believe that USCIS trains their people accordingly and they should have somewhat of decent people reading skills. Just be honest and you shouldn't have any problems.

I would file for Adjustment of Status and once she gets her Advance Parole (or she could wait until she gets the Greencard) she can go back to England and sort out her affairs and then just come back for good.

If she leaves now and you guys start the CR-1 process, you're looking at 8-12 months until it's all done. There is no written document that says you cannot enter the US for vacation while there's a pending visa process, however it would get increasingly difficult for her to provide enough binding ties at the POE, in my opinion.

Yeah, I tend to agree with that information. However, I am going back after the airline for reimbursement of my additional expenses for new tickets because I view this as an error on their part. If the document really was not a valid travel document, they should never have let us leave the US and we could have worked on a resolution while still here. There may still have been some additional expenses to change flights, but the flexibility of when we traveled would have been much greater. I feel there were multiple places where the airlines failed that just perpetuated the problem. We shall see.

You're gonna fail with that attempt and here's why: Airline personnel checking you in are NOT responsible for ensuring you have valid papers to RETURN to your origin. Their only concern is if you have valid papers to your DESTINATION. I'll assume your wife had a Ukrainian passport? So from the airline's part, she was good to go - to Ukraine. If you can come back to the US is not the airline's concern until you try to check in for that very flight and then it is still your problem because it is the passengers responsibility to make sure they have proper documents for the country they're going to.

Did you read the instructions?? They clearly state that people living overseas should send their stuff to the USCIS office having jurisdiction over their home of record in the States.

You can get finger print cards on post.

You can get your fingerprints taken on post or at the nearest US Consulate. Wheren in Germany are you stationed? If you're in Kaiserslautern, you can only do it at Vogelweh.

The I-751 instructions state that if you're overseas, you should file with the USCIS office having jurisdiction over your stateside home of record. See page 3, bottom left.

Good to see we finally have a lot more "red font" in here Congrats everyone

Actually a lot of people DO get reimbursed the visa fees. You have to claim it with finance at your gaining duty station.

They're currently working on cases from June 2005, so I'd estimate you have to wait another 5 years, roughly.

Check the visa bulletin here My link

For military stationed in Germany, all matters like report of birth abroad, applying for the SSN of the new baby, passport for baby etc. HAVE to be done on post. NO more using the Consulate for these things for ID card holders.