Kelli/Ozzy

looking for a ball park figure on  how long it takes from the day of your interview, (ours is July 31st at 11:15am) until you get a date for the Naturalization Ceremony?  I was told a month or so, just want to make sure we don't go on vacation in the US and miss a letter in the mail, thanks in advance

General question I guess. On Sunday we will start our drive cross country to move from Pennsylvania to Arizona. My husband got his 2 year green card this past new years eve so were not quite due for removal of conditions. Just wondering if we can change the address online and since we won't have an apartment right away is it ok to use my cousins address who will also be my husbands employer? Thanks so much

my husband had his medical before interview in Turkiye and once here in America he did have to see a civil surgeon to get the second round of some shots that require a series. he got first group of shots during medical but had to get another in the series to be considered complete. we were already married and he was on my medical insurance so everything got billed as routine and the insurance covered it 100% as preventative. only thing we paid for was the civil surgeon wanted cash to fill out the paperwork, she gave to us in a sealed envelope and we sent that envelope along with the AOS application

Another question Christeen, thank you

to avoid the K-1 process, can my fiancee do her own paperwork in the Philippines, become a U.S. citizen,

come to the U.S., and then we get married?

A green card does not make you a US citizen, a green card is not something she can file for in the philippines and obtain. it takes 3 years after marriage to a US citizen to take a test to possibly become a citizen.

K-1 is only for fiance. you MUST meet face to face in any country in the world, then file the paperwork. if approved she comes to US, you get married, then file adjustment of status ($1070.00), this can include work permit, ability to travel outside US and green card). green card good for 2 years, then you file and pay more money to switch to a 10 year green card or take the citizenship test.

if you marry her in her country, you return to US and start the paperwork for CR1? once approved she will join you in the US but will automatically have a green card which is work, travel and permanent resident status all together. then citizenship test in 3 years.

Someone please correct me if I have stated something wrong. I'm basing this on everything I have read and already done in my own relationship

My hubs and I got married 12/20/12 and we didn't file for his AOS until April 19 of 2013 because I needed our tax return money to make it happen. 63 days later he got his advanced parole (ability to travel) and his work permit. it wasn't until jan 4 2014 that he got his actual GC but as long as you have the Advanced Parole (AP) you are safe to travel abroad. just pay attention the time guidelines

I believe but I'm not positive. at first you are a non immigrant until marriage. from the point of marriage until the AOS you would be referred to as a resident alien. after the GC is issued you are considered a permanent resident. after citizenship you would be considered an American citizen.

I say NO LAWYER, if you read the instructions thoroughly 3 times, and when you think you understand it all, read it again, you will be fine. I did all my own paperwork from day one, never had an RFE and my husband (then fiance) had no troubles and is now here with me, married over a year, already did AOS and got his green card. no worries ever, you can do this, we have faith in you and are here to help Good Luck

on the form, the part that says "information about your alien fiance" the section that starts with #15, it states, if your fiance is currently in the United States, complete the following, that is where they ask for the passport number but she is in mexico so you are safe to file, no number needed, but she will have to have a passport for the interview. my hubs, then fiance, had an expired passport and he didn't renew it until about 2 weeks before his interview.

I agree with advice above, when I filed AOS for my husband, we filed and got 3 different numbers, one for EAD (ability to work), one for ability to travel and the 3rd for the actual green card application. the work and travel were approved in 63 days but the GC took over 8 months. biometrics appt was 5/24/13, he got work and travel permits 6/29/13 but didn't get his GC until 1/6/14, definitely keep your Monday appt and double, triple verify that your support information has been withdrawn

probably just repeating what was said before but since JFK New York will be his first entry into the United States that is where he needs to go thru customs and present the package for the K-1 visa. My hubby went thru JFK last year and it took him 2 hours to get thru customs. My friend just went thru the same thing two weeks ago and he was thru in an hour. so he must do customs at JFK and hopefully his connecting flight is at least 2-3 hours layover so he makes it thru all the way smoothly, best of luck, congrats !!

I'm just going to throw in my 2 cents about the medical exam. My hubby (then fiance) had his initial medical done in Turkiye and had a few shots and a chest xray and blood drawn and that was that, he went on to the interview, everything was great, he passed, he got visa, we're married now and happy as a clam, haha..........................anyway, once he got here to pennsylvania he had to go to a civil surgeon and have additional shots given, like a second round to whatever he got in turkiye. she charged us 120.00 in cash just to handle the AOS paperwork and gave it to us in a sealed envelope just like the K-1 stuff. he had blood drawn again and they did a special test where they could test for TB by using the blood because i had to work and could not get back to the office to have them check his injection site. we were already married at this point and he was already on my medical insurance so everything got billed as routine except the blood work and all got covered at 100%, i had a smidge of a deductible or co-insurance from the blood work and that 120 cash thing for the paperwork but not as horrible as i thought it was going to be.

about the drivers license thing, i had taken him to the dmv right away and got a state id. we have been doing his drivers test for the past few months, he needed a few tries, and we started before he had his EAD so maybe it depends state to state but we were allowed to get his drivers license with just his state id, his passport and all the damn paperwork that we've collected on this journey. we have two folders we carry everywhere. one of his stuff, and one of all the other stuff like proof that he is on my health insurance, car insurance, whatever.............. no matter what random piece of paper they ask me for, i have it in that damn folder, that's for sure, lol

best of luck to ya, message me if i can help ya anymore, that is, if i've helped ya at all

my husband (then fiance) came here on a K-1 visa. he got visa 11/21/12, entered America 11/27/12, we got married 12/20/12. I waited until I had my tax return to file his AOS (costs $1070.00), which was done 4/19/13 and received by them 4/30/13. He had his biometrics appointment 5/24/13 and was approved for work and advanced parole (travel) on 6/21/13, card received by him on 6/29/13. So his EAD (work) and AP (travel) were approved in 63 days according to our timeline.

what exactly is the reputation function on this site and how do you get reputation points? who gives them? are there positive and negative reputations? please explain or point me to the place to find out this info, thanks

After marriage apply for Social Security

Then DL

Apply AOS

AOS Cost $1080 or $1090

the cost for AOS is $1070.00 and you don't have to wait for marriage to file for social security number, my husband got here on a tuesday and we applied for his number on friday, they already had record of his american port entry thru New York.

what is DL?

I don't believe you get anything else, my husband has his combo card since end of June and we never got anything else

my now husband came from Turkiye last year, he got shots at his medical exam in Turkiye but had to get a second round of a couple of those shots once here in the US. We went to a civil surgeon, at this point we were already married and he was on my health insurance plan and it all got covered as "routine". only thing we paid for was the paperwork for AOS by the civil surgeon, she charged us 200.00 cash which I'm sure was a made up too high price but we needed what we needed and had to get it done. she then gave us all the paperwork in a sealed envelope just like the K1 visa info and we mailed that with our forms for AOS.

also, you stated once she comes to america, they would marry and she would work asap. that won't be able to happen because after marriage you need $1,070.00 to file for her AOS (adjustment of status) which includes her application for the green card, ability to travel outside the US and the ability to work, until you have this approval she won't be able to work.

I don't mean to rain on any parade, just wanted to give as much facts as i'm aware of since i brought my husband last November, we married in December 2012, i filed for AOS in April or May of 2013 and he got his work papers and ability to travel around the beginning of July 2013. still waiting for green card.

as always, good luck and if there is love, there is a way

my husband got his SSN 3 days after entering America, one month before we were married. since he's a male we didn't have to worry about changing names

I only met my fiance (now husband) once, I went to his country for 17 days and filed when I got home, we had no issues at all so far on our journey, we are now married over 9 months and he is awaiting his green card, best of luck

G-325A - biographic information

I-864 - affidavit of support

I-485 - application to register permanent residence

I-765 - application for employment authorization

I-131 - application for travel

G-1145 - electronic notification of application acceptance

certified copy of marriage certificate

fee of $1070.00

lockbox address to mail you package is in Chicago

For U.S. Postal Service:

USCIS
P.O. Box 805887
Chicago, IL 60680-4120

I-693 form, medical examination of aliens seeking adjustment

my hubs personally had to visit a civil surgeon as he needed a second series of shots, after that the civil surgeon filled out paperwork and gave us a sealed envelope to send to chicago lock box

first you need to make a cover page with your contact information, description of the benefit being filed for, and a table of contents of what is included in the packet.

a complete copy of his passport (biographical page as well as entry stamps)

copy of the K-1 visa from passport

copy of the valid I-94 (front and back copies)

copy of his birth certificate with english translation if that applies

two passport photos of him

if you fill out the G-1145 form it has to be attached on top of the cover page

after packet is accepted, you will get a confirmation either via email or text, or mail, then you will get a letter telling you the date and time for his biometrics appt, he will be fingerprinted and photographed, you need your appt letter and NOA2 letter to get into the appt.

we filed AOS 4/19/13 and got our NOA letter 4/30/13, biometrics done 5/24/13, we were approved for work and travel 6/21/13 and received his card 6/29/13

as of last weekend we got a letter stating we probably won't have to have an interview but processing his green card would take another 6 months

my advice is always to print the forms, read the instructions, when done, read them again, and when you think you got it, read them again. always use blue or black ink or type the forms on computer then print, triple check your package before sending, breathe, pray and have faith.

i have done all of the steps so far by searching the internet,using this awesome forum and following directions to the T. no lawyers needed, best of luck, contact me with any other questions, i'm always willing to help

I-797C is your NOA1

I-797 is your NOA2

they then forward your case from USCIS office to the NVC (national visa center)

you will get a case number (usually first 3 letters of case number are where the consulate is) example, my husbands was Ankara, Turkey so his case number was ANK##########

i got a letter when NVC received my case, thus assigning the case number, then i called to verify the date that NVC sent it to the consulate

after that steps 3 & 4 leading up to the interview (packages) were actually just emails with instructions and links to websites and paperwork, not sure if every consulate is like that

i got an email from consulate, filled out some forms, sent them to the hubs, he sent to consulate, they set his interview date, he did his medical, got his visa and now we are living happily ever after in the middle of his AOS (adjustment of status)

anything else i can help ya with just send me a note

CONGRATS !!

The one thing I'll miss about Europe is medical bills are much lower than the states and we don't have to worry about insurance. I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to these kinds of things. But can I ask why he needed a second round of shots? I hope I won't have to do the same and so I'd like to get everything covered over here first because shots here cost no more than 20 bucks a shot.

there are a couple of vaccines that require more than one shot in a series (which i wasn't aware of prior). he received the first shot in Turkey at the time of his medical exam and they gave him a vaccination record to bring here, then we had to find a civil surgeon and get the second shot in the series to be considered complete and able to apply for adjustment of status.

the shots she gave him here were for Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and Varicella

I just went thru the AOS process for my husband, the fee is $1070.00 for green card application, work permit and advanced parole (ability to travel) but............ before that we had to see a civil surgeon and get a second round of immunizations. i already had added him to my insurance and they got billed as routine so my insurance covered them at 100% (she billed about $600.00 for 3 different shots) but she charged me a $200.00 paperwork fee and put all details in a sealed envelope that i sent to USCIS with the AOS application.

we filed on 4/19/13, biometrics was done on 5/24/13 and we got work permit and advanced parole on 6/29/13

just keep in mind the price to file for adjustment of status is $1070.00 which includes application for green card, work permit, biometrics and ability to travel (advanced parole). I filed 4/19/13, had biometrics done 5/24/13 and my hubby should be getting his work permit any day now (timeline here estimates today)

Rachel, I just sent you a huge email thru this website along with my contact info, we live about 15 minutes apart and I'm in the adjustment of status phase for my husband so I have a wealth of information I can share with you, my best advice, right now, breathe deep, pray, believe and read everything you can find here on VJ and the internet 3 to 4 times and when you think you understand it, read it again

p.s. I did everything myself and never got an RFE (request for evidence), you don't need a lawyer if you pay super close attention to instructions and detail