grrrrreat

You're supposed to sign it exactly the same way as you signed it on the photo that is on the certificate. Congratulations!

No, absolutely do not send two packages. This will confuse everything. Either one package will be rejected or OP will have two cases pending at the same time. What terrible advice.

The poster's story has a lot of indications of spousal abuse. For instance, denying someone the ability to have a bank account or have their own money is a way of maintaining absolute control over someone. So is refusing to help file basic adjustment of status paperwork so that the spouse can work, travel outside the U.S., and live without the fear of removal. I am curious to know if the poster has been physically abused or subject to other forms of extreme cruelty. If so, the case could be much more complicated and she could potentially qualify to adjust status under the Violence Against Women Act.

Okay, it's clear you're being abused. Find help from an organization that helps abused spouses and/or organizations that help immigrants. You have to work up the courage to help yourself or no one on this board can help you.

The poster's story has a lot of indications of spousal abuse. For instance, denying someone the ability to have a bank account or have their own money is a way of maintaining absolute control over someone. So is refusing to help file basic adjustment of status paperwork so that the spouse can work, travel outside the U.S., and live without the fear of removal. I am curious to know if the poster has been physically abused or subject to other forms of extreme cruelty. If so, the case could be much more complicated and she could potentially qualify to adjust status under the Violence Against Women Act.

No, absolutely do not send two packages. This will confuse everything. Either one package will be rejected or OP will have two cases pending at the same time. What terrible advice.

No, absolutely do not send two packages. This will confuse everything. Either one package will be rejected or OP will have two cases pending at the same time. What terrible advice.

No, absolutely do not send two packages. This will confuse everything. Either one package will be rejected or OP will have two cases pending at the same time. What terrible advice.

No, absolutely do not send two packages. This will confuse everything. Either one package will be rejected or OP will have two cases pending at the same time. What terrible advice.

I really appreciate the Biology lesson Paul Elizabeth, but this is completely off subject. If you have nothing about K-1 Visas or I-129F to post please keep your comments to yourself.

Hello everyone! I started this forum for people that will be looking into and filing a I-129F application for their same sex partners. I have to say that VisaJourney.com is an extremely helpful website to gather information on how to create and arrange your K-1 package. I used this website's Step by Step guide to create my package, http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide. I decided to take on this venture on my own after being turned away by a local Immigration Lawyer. Another awesome website is ImmigrationEquality.com. These guys have poured their souls into fighting for same sex rights. I am extremely grateful that they fought without giving up and in huge part we are here because of their help. I have emailed them with questions about this process and they do reply back with any questions I have. They might take a few days to reply, but I can only imagine what their inbox looks like, so it's understandable. They also work with and train lawyers all over the country about same sex immigration. They can refer you to lawyers, unfortunately no lawyers in my local area participate.
I have been with my fiance for 10 years, 10 wonderful years. I can't say it hasn't been tough, but I think I have had it easy compared to other people. I live in El Paso, TX, which is just a border hop to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where my fiance lives. Jumping back and forth on a daily basis has been hard, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if I had to. The day section 3 of DOMA was demolished I was with my fiance. I sat staring at the TV in disbelief. I was scared, excited, happy, and nervous all at the same time. I started working on the I-129F application that same day.
I filled out the I-129F application, making sure to fill in every question. Please read through the application's instructions a few times so that you feel comfortable filling it out. I created my 1-129F Cover letter, and our letters of intent to marry from the templates on this website. I only changed one thing on the letter of intent to marry letters, and that was to include that we had every intent to marry within 90 days of entry into the United States in a state where it is lawful. As far as evidence of our relationship, I knew I only had to send 3-5 pictures, but I sent 26. I included pictures documenting the 10 years we have been together. I figured what more evidence can I send to prove we've been together in an ongoing relationship than pictures that document our aging together. I did not send letters or anything more. I am not saying you should not send, every situation is different. I did go to my bank and requested a temp check to pay for the application fee. This way I would be able to see the day USCIS cashed my check.
I think I must have checked my package about 50 times before I placed it in an Express Mail package and sealed it. I did not buy a fancy folder, nor did I include fancy cover letters for every section of the package. I made things easy for whomever was going to open the package. I paid for Express Mail to have peace of mind, and to get it their faster. It turned out it wasn't going to be as fast as I wanted. I went to the post office on July 19th, a Friday. The USPS employee told me it would not be delivered Saturday because of course U.S. Government buildings are not open on Saturdays. He did assure me that delivery was guaranteed and they would deliver Monday, July 22nd. Sure enough, I checked on Monday and it had been signed for and delivered. I was not expecting USCIS to send me and NOA1 or even cash my check until maybe a week or two after. I checked my bank app on July 25th in the morning and saw that USCIS had cashed my check. A few hours later I received an email from USCIS stating they had accepted my package, NOA1. I was completely extatic! I know NOA1 is not a big deal, but still this was very exciting for me and my fiance. I did not think I would be getting more notifications until 5 months or so, but on July 30th I got another notification stating that my Alien Registration Number had changed relating to my I-129F, Petition for Fiance.
I know my journey has just started, and I still have a long wait ahead of me, but I hope this information is useful for someone else. I hope people use this forum to also document their same sex K-1 journey. I will continue to update this forum as time progresses. I really do hope I am helping someone else out with this forum. Please feel free to use this forum for your questions and to share your journeys!

The poster's story has a lot of indications of spousal abuse. For instance, denying someone the ability to have a bank account or have their own money is a way of maintaining absolute control over someone. So is refusing to help file basic adjustment of status paperwork so that the spouse can work, travel outside the U.S., and live without the fear of removal. I am curious to know if the poster has been physically abused or subject to other forms of extreme cruelty. If so, the case could be much more complicated and she could potentially qualify to adjust status under the Violence Against Women Act.

Agreed best practice is priority mail with delivery confirmation, which is trackable but not expensive.

American Citizenship is not "claimed" through any process. Someone who is a USC at birth is a USC whether or not they do anything about it or not. If your mother was a USC at birth, she was always a USC whether or not she recently obtained a passport or not. If she was not a USC at birth, then she was naturalized through another process (like becoming a lawful permanent resident, residing in the U.S. for the required period, and becoming naturalized).

You're not understanding what a certificate of citizenship is. There's no such thing as claiming citizenship. Persons are citizens from birth, by operation of law, or through naturalization. There's no such thing as claiming citizenship. If your mother was a US citizen at birth through her father, then she was a US citizen from birth whether or not she had obtained a Certificate of Citizenship. The Certificate of Citizenship is only proof of what her citizenship status was, it did not change it. If your mother was a US citizen from birth, and hence was a US citizen when you were born, you may have acquired US citizenship at birth assuming she met the other requirements, like having been present in the U.S. before you were born.

The USCIS Field Adjudicator's Manual states "(2) Naturalized citizens may count any time they spent in the United States or its outlying possessions both before and after being naturalized, regardless of their status. Even citizens who, prior to lawful entry and naturalization, had spent time in the United States illegally can include that time."
This is consistent with the statute, which does not limit physical presence to presence after the U.S. citizen was naturalized. It is also consistent with the purpose of the requirement, which is to ensure that the U.S. citizen parent has been exposed to American customs and values that will be an influence on the child.
Note that if the child was born out of wedlock, the required presence is only one year.

I edited out the rest of your message, in which you seem to blame everyone under the sun for what is a crappy situation. The bottom line is you got bad advice, and you acted on it. Assuming that you were not eligible to petition for your own step-son because of his age, your wife should have petitioned for him when she first became an LPR. The difference in wait times for adult sons of LPRs and citizens is relatively small. In any event, once your wife became a USC, she would have been able to upgrade the petition to the higher priority visa category and keep the priority date she had already obtained. Unfortunately, since you didn't do that, you lost out on a few years of priority that could have helped the petition become current sooner.
The bottom line is you should blame the person who gave you bad advice and yourself for taking it. It can't be fixed or changed now, so try to focus on better times to come and making a good home for your son when the visa is granted, instead of blaming innocent children who are in the U.S. without documentation through no fault of their own, and who have nothing to do with your circumstances.

I'm a lawyer, and this isn't an accurate statement regarding accessory to fraud. Please keep the answers to the question stated by the OP and avoid accusing others of breaking the law.
There's no way for OP to find out, and if he finds himself obsessing about it he should get some outside help from a counselor.

This statement makes no sense, and if it did it would be false. North Korea is better at giving permission to enter than the U.S.?

USCIS often expedites petitions for immigrant visas for U.S. citizens who live abroad and especially for members of the military. Start working on your form I-130 according to the Guides on this website, and then review this information for military families from USCIS. Call the number listed there and see what the process is: they list "bringing a spouse to the United States" as something that they help military members with.
Guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1
Military families: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

Off topic! All of this discussion is off topic! OP is a member of a military family; she should have an easy I-130 process. I provided the information she can use to contact USCIS Military Help Line but you are all drowning it out with this useless debate. Focus on helping OP.
Here is the military help line again! Get your I-130 ready and call them to inquire about how to expedite it. They do it all the time for military families.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
I provided OP with the military help line to expedite her I-130, so she may not have to wait!

Off topic! All of this discussion is off topic! OP is a member of a military family; she should have an easy I-130 process. I provided the information she can use to contact USCIS Military Help Line but you are all drowning it out with this useless debate. Focus on helping OP.
Here is the military help line again! Get your I-130 ready and call them to inquire about how to expedite it. They do it all the time for military families.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
I provided OP with the military help line to expedite her I-130, so she may not have to wait!

USCIS often expedites petitions for immigrant visas for U.S. citizens who live abroad and especially for members of the military. Start working on your form I-130 according to the Guides on this website, and then review this information for military families from USCIS. Call the number listed there and see what the process is: they list "bringing a spouse to the United States" as something that they help military members with.
Guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1
Military families: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7d1f8430256b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

I understand your point and I wasn't advising anyone with an overstay to leave right now. I already had advised that people with potential overstays should seek AP and then revisit the situation if they need to leave before they have a Green Card. I also posted this to help individuals who were adjusting and who had departed and returned to the U.S., if application of the former overstay ban could prevent them from completing their adjustment of status, such as in the Arrabally case.
However, I do vigorously dispute that BIA decisions are not binding on immigration judges--and that was the statement I was responding to. Immigration judges are part of the DHS so in some sense BIA decisions are binding on DHS. Whether or not CBP has implemented it yet doesn't matter--I understand the risk that the CBP could deny someone entry but it's extremely misguided to suggest that this "doesn't change anything" as another OP did.

BIA decisions are binding on immigration judges--who are part of the USCIS. If CBP were to wrongfully deny entry, they could seek a hearing with an immigration judge.
I think I am being insulted but I can't figure out why. And no it's not obvious why we'd deny advance parole to all adjustment applicants except K-1s.
The BIA decides what's workable with the INA and its decisions are binding on USCIS and the Department of Justice.