Waiting_In_SC

40 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

@Waiting_In_SC, I suggest filing the I-130 online. USCIS has been approving them quickly lately. (1.5 to 3 months). Best wishes. 

That is encouraging news. Thank you!

9 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

She cannot enter the US as a visitor with the intent to stay and adjust status.  That is not a legal option.  Your wife will have to file an I-130 to start the process.  It could take a couple years from start to her Mother having an immigrant visa in hand.  Good luck.

 

Adjustment of Status is available only for individuals already inside the US.

Yeah.. I figured that was going to have to be the case.

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

With a solid history of responsible use of the border crossing card you indicated,  I see no reason why they would cancel her current visa during the process. Obviously, once she gets an immigrant visa her current visa will be cancelled.

 

As noted above she cannot enter the US with intent to adjust (and that is actually what could get her current visa cancelled). Some FOs are anyway very backlogged and there is no certainty at all that she would get a green card faster from adjusting in the country than by doing consular  processing. Moreover adjustment would require that at least until she gets an EAD and AP (and many report 6-8 months waiting currently) she cannot work or leave the US.  I’m personally not really seeing any advantage to doing AOS for her given she already has such easy access to visit.

Thanks for the thoughts. I kind of figured her staying in Mexico was the right thing.. Thanks!

Just now, Lucky Cat said:

Where is she right now?

She's in Mexico currently. However, the BCC allows her to come here and visit for up to six months. 

I know that if we file while she's here she can submit and adjustment of status application simultaneously, but we're not sure if that's the correct approach for us. 

If she stays in Mexico while the process is going, I'm wondering how much longer it will take. Also, I'm guessing that they will cancel her current visa when the application is processed, too.

I'm particularly interested in the difference in waiting time between filing while her mother is in Mexico, versus filing while she's here. 

Thank you, @Lucky Cat!

Hello, community. 

9 years ago this site was a huge help to me as we went through the adjustment of status process for my wife. Now, nine years later she is a US Citizen and doing very well here. 

She is interested in filing an I-130 for her mother. I'm just beginning to do the research, and figured I'd post here and see if anyone would share thoughts on what I should expect.

The pertinent info:
My wife is from Mexico. We married in April, 2012. She became a permanent resident in Oct, 2012. She became a US citizen in Dec 2019. 

We meet the financial requirements for sponsoring her mom if it is required. There is nothing in her mom's background that would be a hindrance to approval, ie. legal trouble, etc. Her mom lives very close to the US border, and has had a border crossing card for 15 or more years. She's always used it responsibly.

I can't think of anything else that would be important to know, but if you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have, especially regarding timelines, suggestions for a smoother process, etc.

Thank you!

We got our biometrics appointment notification!

Nov 13 is the day.

Sorry for the late reply. We received our NOA1 on Oct 17, 2014.

My wife and I sent her paperwork in yesterday via FedEx overnight. Got delivery confirmation just a little while ago.

My wife was working at the front desk of a hotel I stayed at when I went to Mexico, which was on a fairly regular basis. We became friends and started hanging out; going to dinner, out for drinks, etc. After a little over a year of friendship, I asked her if she was interested in moving our friendship to a romantic level. She shot me down in flames.

We continued our friendship, and after two more years passed, she decided she was ready to settle down and get serious about a relationship. She admitted she had been interested in me before, but hadn't wanted to invest time in a relationship. She was working full time, in school full time, and hanging out with friends and things in what little spare time she had. She got tired of the partying and wanted to settle down.

She asked me if I was still interested, and it just so happened I was.

We started dating, and two years later, almost to the day, she came to visit me in the US for a couple of months. We decided right before she had to go home that we wanted to get married and have her stay, so we did. She got her green card on Oct. 22. We've been enjoying life together ever since.

Well, in the OPs case, it's not just about risks; it's about bringing the daughter too.

The best course of action is the one Harpa described bellow:

The issue is not risk, the issue is the kids. They want the 19 year old kid to immigrate with them. That makes K-1 (and K-2 for the kid) the only possible option, to make that happen.

Edit: Celeste beat me to it

You're both right. I completely glazed over the issue of the daughter.

Hello I'm Peter and I'm engaged to Nancy, I am a US citizen. Is it ok for me to marry my fiancee when she comes in January and apply for her when she leaves or should I apply for a fiancee visa instead. She has an 19 year old daughter can she obtain a visa as well? Is it correct if I marry my fiancee here in the US her daughter is not able to travel to the US?

Here's the deal. You want to know if it's ok for you to marry her when she's here. Sure, assuming you're legally able to wed (read, not still married to someone else), you are completely free to marry your fiance when she's here. What you do after that is completely up to you.

You have 3 options, really.

1) She comes into the country, you get married, then apply for AOS while she's in the country. You may have some explaining to do. If they don't buy your claim that she didn't have intent to marry, you could be facing a removal of your wife, and a ban.

2) Get married, she goes back to her country, and you apply for a CR-1. You'll have followed the letter of the law, and she'll be here after a few months of separation.

3) Go the way of a K-1. She'll be approved after a few months, she'll enter the country, and you'll have 90 days to wed.

It really just depends on how risk-averse you are. My wife entered the country on a non-immigrant visa. She didn't have intent to marry when she crossed, but we got married after she had been in the country for about 70 days. We knew we were taking a risk, even though we didn't do anything wrong. It was never even brought up in our interview. Not even alluded to.

You just never know how USCIS officers are going to see your case, so doing it that way is always a bit of a risk, intent or not.

It really all boils down to how much of a risk you're willing to take. My advice would be to either do a K-1, or get married while she's here, send her home, then apply for the CR-1. You'll have a separation of a few months to deal with, but you won't have to sweat out a potentially ugly legal situation.

My immediate reaction, as an outsider with no more information that what's written here of course, is that this is situation with many red flags, and I can see why USCIS is investigating more closely. Another thought that immediately popped into my mind is that the husband is hiding something. His actions just don't pass the smell test for me.

A quick addition to my previous post. I'm in no way accusing you or your husband. I'm just saying I understand why USCIS thinks it should look a little deeper. I don't know that there's ever a call for invading someone's underwear drawer, however.

My immediate reaction, as an outsider with no more information that what's written here of course, is that this is situation with many red flags, and I can see why USCIS is investigating more closely. Another thought that immediately popped into my mind is that the husband is hiding something. His actions just don't pass the smell test for me.

Congratulations to you No_Longer_Waiting_In_SC

Ha! I see what you did there..

Thanks

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks, Lornaevo, and sorry about that. Our interview was actually near where my son lives, so we took the opportunity to spend some time with him while we were in town. That put us later getting back home.

Approved on the spot! Thanks to all of my fellow May filers for the moral support. My interview experience can be found HERE.

My wife (immigrant spouse) and myself (USC) had our marriage-based AOS interview today at noon at the Greer, SC USCIS office. We took a translator just in case my wife, who speaks intermediate English, needed help answering questions.

We arrived at 11:35 and presented our interview notice to the security personnel at the entrance. We were quickly and efficiently processed by security. They were extremely cordial, and made small talk as they processed us. Once through the security checks, we were asked to wait in a waiting room off to the side.

When we entered the room, there was one other couple waiting. After about 20 minutes of waiting, an officer opened the door and called the other couple into the back. In another 2-3 minutes, a gentleman who I estimate to be in his early 50s entered the room and called my wife's name.

He took us back to his office, all the while making a bit of small talk with us. When we entered the room, he said, 'before we all sit down, let me swear you in.' He swore us in, told us to have a seat, and we got down to business.

Like many of the reviews I've read, it was very clear to me that he had reviewed our file in detail before our interview, and told us we'd just go through our paperwork together. He asked for all of our IDs, then took her I-94 and placed it in her file. He verified our names, birthdates, and places of birth, then immediately launched into the 'Yes/No' questions of the I-485, all of which my wife answered correctly. He marked them off as she answered, and kept saying 'that's good..' or 'that's a good answer.'

He mentioned that he had worked as a border patrol officer near the city where my wife is from, and we talked for a few minutes about how things have changed since he worked there.

He then went into my I-130 form and confirmed all the information on that, and then went through the evidence we presented in our original packet to USCIS.

Once we finished going through the file, he closed the folder and said 'I don't see any problems with your case. Things look good. Do you have anything else you'd like to submit?'

I told him 'well, we've got several things, and I presented him with a joint checking account statement, a letter from our insurance company, a water bill, a light bill, and our cell phone bill, all of which had both our names on them. He took them, put them in our file, and closed it again.

He turned to type on his computer, and as he was typing, he looked at my wife and said 'Well, I'm going to approve your application.' As he hit the button on his mouse, he said 'I'm hitting this button right now, and that means that you are now a legal resident of the United States. Congratulations!'

We were stunned, but recovered quickly to say 'thank you!'

He went over the removal of conditions, and answered a couple of questions we had regarding travel and ROC.

For those who'd like to know, he ONLY took her I-94. He let her keep her original Visa and EAD. He did mention to her that she may want to cut her Visa up to keep someone from stealing and using it.

Overall the interview lasted about 20 minutes, and he really seemed to go out of his way to make us feel comfortable. He was totally unlike the cold, overly stoic, and sometimes combative officers I've read about. He was very professional, but seemed compassionate and friendly.

We celebrated by going to a local park and sitting on a swing together for a while and watching the waterfall, then went and had a nice sushi dinner.

Thankfully we are done for 21 months until it's ROC time. Thanks to everyone on VJ who has posted and helped make life easier on folks like us. We couldn't have done it ourselves without all of the great info on this site.

Good Luck today. Try to remain calm.

Thanks! I'm actually pretty calm and composed. We have a mountain of evidence to present, if needed, and I have no worries whatsoever about convincing the IO that we are a real couple. I do worry a bit about the 'intent' issue, because of us adjusting status from a non-immigrant visa. I do have that knot in my stomach, but I suppose it's kind of expected to be a bit anxious with something so important.

This is where my job comes in handy. I frequently have to give presentations in front of sometimes large crowds, so I don't get nervous at all about being put 'on the spot.'

Anyway, thanks for the well-wishes.

Goodluck

Thanks! We are going through our stuff right now, making sure we have everything we need.

Well, tomorrow is our big day. We have our interview at high noon. Boy, is the pit in my stomach beginning to grow...

Thank you I was approved on the spot! best wishes to you

Here is my interview experience...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/395150-ewi-tps-advance-parole-entry-aos-interview-aproval-on-the-spot/page__p__5765024__fromsearch__1#entry5765024

Awesome. Congrats!

Good luck today, Isa30! You and I are 2 of the last ones to go through this.

Do all interview letters ask for the same info?

That's what I was wondering. My interview letter came with a looong list of things to bring. Is this normal?

My wife spoke limited English as well. When the questions became more difficult, he got on the phone, requested a Russian translator, and whole thing was done via speaker phone. Spanish is a very common language here so I doubt if there will be issues getting a Spanish translator on the phone, or even in the office for that matter. You cannot be the translator.

Hmm. I was wondering what would happen if I showed up without one and the need arose.