Italian Mom

Maybe I missed some here; are you a Greek citizen or are you applying in Greece because you are resident there?

If you are an EU citizenl,you should be able to travel under the VWP.

Yes, that would be his GC and I bet you will have it in your mailbox at the most by next week. It is possible to not have an interview at this point, it happened the same to me one year ago.

Congratulations!

Forgot to tell you also that is the 2yrs conditional GC. He will then have to apply to remove his condition 90 days before the GC expires and in that occasion they may interview both of you. So now (til the probable interview) you need to collect proof of your marriage (pics together, bank account, bills, etc)

Hi guys, we applied for my husband's Green Card/AOS (Form I485)about April 2012. We finally received the following status update today:

"On September 10, 2012, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

This step applies to applications that result in an applicant receiving a card (such as a "green card") or other document..."

Does this mean temporary Green Card? or THE actual Green Card. We have not been invited for an interview. Is this possible to not have an interview? Or will be invited for an interview at a later date?

M-

Yes, that would be his GC and I bet you will have it in your mailbox at the most by next week. It is possible to not have an interview at this point, it happened the same to me one year ago.

Congratulations!

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I have just started the K1 application process but if everything goes well we should (hopefully) be in the states by June 2013.

It's probably a bit premature, but I worry about finding a job in the states. I'm only a few classes short of graduating in translating but I don't actually have my Bachelor's degree yet and I might not be able to graduate before moving to the states.

Can you get a good job in the states without a college degree? I have about 4 years of work experience. I worked as a travel insurance agent the first year, and have been working at the US embassy in progressively responsible jobs for the last 3 years. I have good references, and the last three are actually from US supervisors. I'll be honest, the lack of degree hasn't held me back at all until now, I make a pretty good salary and love my job... but am terrified of what's going to happen once I move to the US.

I'm not a "rockstar" at anything, don't have any super specialized talents to give me an edge. Basically I'm just a quick learner that's willing to work. I grew up speaking French, Dutch and Spanish. I am also fluent in English and German. But even though I am fluent in five languages, I don't actually have a degree or certificate that oficially states that.

Do you think I would be able to find a good job? By that I mean maybe an administrative job in a large company.

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts on this!

SInce you speak all these languages, you may easily work as a teacher, unless you are not interested in. There is always a great need here for foreign languages and for Spanish teachers.

But you first should finish your degree and have your credentials evaluated.

My wife just got her conditional GC. She was thinking about traveling back home for 1.5 months. We also have a four day vacation to Costa Rica later this year. Then next January we plan on going back to her country for less than 3-5 months.

After that we don't have travel plans, but hopefully will travel out of the country for vacation but no longer than a month easily.

She's worried that she'll be traveling too much on her GC and that immigration will feel that she doesn't want to stay in the US. She looked online (some Chinese website or forum) and got worried after reading other people saying don't travel too much.

I told her it's not that much and it's not that long either.

I've done lots of searches here on this topic, but wanted to ask my question.

Thoughts?

Hi,

I just came back from a 6 weeks vacation in my home country. I also traveled with a conditional GC which I got one year ago. Everything went ok and the officer at the PO in Chicago only asked me where did I traveled to.

So nothing to worry about.

Have a safe and nice trip and enjoy.

Does anyone have any advice on credential evaluation report services? I have applied for a job that is requesting a report on my foreign degrees. Unfortunately the places I have been looking into usually require originals of both the transcript and the certificate itself. I have the transcripts but not the certificates as they are framed and back in Australia and I can't get them, and since they are one-off documents I would not want to send them anyway, since most of these agencies seem to want to keep the originals.

Has anyone here used such a service with just the transcripts? Have they returned the transcripts to you at the end? Do you have any recommendations?

HI,

Last year I did my evaluation from both (ECE and WES). The reason was because they were rated differently from people complaining about not recognizing the right level of education and delays. Furthermore WES will ask you the documents to be sent directly from the institutions you completed your education and for some people this is extremely hard, since they might not have family members to take care of that or the schools might delay the mailing. Those will be considered as originals, so you will not have any chance to see them. Well, I asked my schools to send me a scanned copy.

ECE instead requires only copies (translated), so no need to worry about sending them directly by your school and/or original documents.They will ask you for originals only if they think they need them. In my case copies were ok.

There is also a difference in recognizing your titles. I have a BS in Economics and a MS in International Marketing; WES recognized both of them, while ECE put them together to only recognize me a bachelors in business administration which makes no sense to me.

Before sending out your papers look with the school or company you will be going to utilize them, they might be able to tell you from which they want the evaluation. Also google the name of both companies and you will see the different complains that people have put out there.

There are also other evaluation companies in Florida, California and other states, but you need to know first if they are acceptable by who is asking you for them.

Hope this can help.

How old is your son? Schools will consider him independent for financial aid only if he's 24 years old and older. Anyone younger than that is considered dependent and have to

show the parents (in this case you and your US husband) taxes. If he moves out he will have to change the address on his drivers license and you will have to inform USCIs as well.

I have no idea how that influences the process of removing conditions.

Here's how this works:

"Dependent students are assumed to have parental support while independent students are not. The result: Independent students might qualify for more aid.

Being considered an independent student is not merely a matter of being responsible for your own educational expenses. You must meet at least one of the following seven criteria to be declared an independent student for the purposes of the FAFSA:

Be 24 years of age or older by December 31 of the award year;

Be an orphan (both parents deceased), ward of the court, or was a ward of the court until the age of 18;

Be a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States;

Be a graduate or professional student;

Be a married individual;

Have legal dependents other than a spouse;

Be a student for whom a financial aid administrator makes a documented determination of independence by reason of other unusual circumstances. "

source: h t t p://w w w .fastweb. c o m /financial-aid/articles/699-fafsa-and-the-independent-student

Thank you Simpleflower!

My son just turned 20, so it looks like he only can claim as our dependent. He does not fall in none of the listed criteria of the FAFSA.

I hope there will be no problem for him to remove the conditions in case he moves out in a room near by the college.

Thanks again!

My son came in the US with a K2 Visa months after I did and he got his conditional GC months after I did. Plus it took him 7 months to get his GC, so now his is expiring almost one year after mine.

He will start college this Fall and we would like him to live on his own and apply for federal college aid. So if he is on his own on his household it will be easier for him to get the aid. But would he then be able to apply for removal of conditions (one year after me) being on his own household or does he need to be my dependent?

Thank you!

Have U tried hyphenating your name on the forms example Jane Doe-Smith

i am not sure if this question is for me or for the person of the original post.

However, my US documents (GC, DL, SS and everything else) have my hyphenated name. I was only concerned about my passport, which still has my maiden name and I am not able to change or add my new name since I first need to register my marriage at the consular office. I am currently in Italy and the municipal office can't do anything before I register my marriage and my name on the living abroad Italians database.

Thank you guys for the info I am finding here. I travelled to Italy with my password in the maiden name, my ticket has the maiden name and on the GC I have my husband's last name added to mine. I was hoping to get a new passport in Italy and register my marriage (and the new name), but at the municipal office they told me I need to register my marriage at the consular office in US. So I will be traveling back with my old passport, but I also have a copy of the marriage certificate.

I have another question though: Since Italy is in the vw program and usually people before leaving have to complete the ESTA online authorization, am I required to ask for that authorization or my PR condition should do?

Thank you!

I posted yesterday about USCIS losing my medical and giving me an RFE. In summary, I came here on a k-1 visa (October 2011), which required me to get a medical (done in June 2011). I handed the medical documents in to an immigration officer at my visa interview at the Consulate in Montreal (August 2011). While filing AOS (received November 2011) I sent the vaccine supplement and my RFE states that I don't need to redo that part of the medical (ie the vaccine part is fine and I don't need just the vaccine supplement as some other people have received an RFE regarding). I've been trying to contact my Canadian panel physician to see if I can get a copy of the medical resent but haven't heard back from them. I have a few questions...

1. Does anyone know is Dr. Seiden's office in Toronto will mail you a copy of your past medical exam?

2. My RFE wants me to do an I-693 but if I am able to get a copy (in a sealed envelop) of my medical from Canada which includes forms DS-2053, DS-3024, and DS-3026, will that work instead of getting I-693 done?

3. My medical took place on June 8, 2011. I filed for AOS in November 2011, well within the 1 year period for my medical to be valid. However, I am now coming close to the 1 year mark and likely wouldn't be able to get a copy to USCIS by June 8th. Does that mean I need to redo my physical regardless of whether or not I can get a copy of my medical or is it fine because I filed AOS within 1 year and that's the date that matters? I'm not sure if the medical needs to be valid one year from when I filed (November 2011) or 1 year from when they actually look at your case (ie now).

I called USCIS to try to get help but they are useless. They acknowledge that it didn't make sense and told me to respond to the RFE by saying that I didn't need a medical because I had one already for k-1. From reading posts on VJ, I know people have been denied for doing just that. Infopass is a 6 hour drive and I've heard from others that they also were not helpful in relocating lost medicals.

My RFE date is still 2.5 months away so I have decided to try to contact a Senator and Ombudsman to help locate my lost medicals. If I can't get help within the next couple weeks I will just redo the medical rather than risk being denied. Senator Barbara Boxer is a friend of my mother-in-law and she has already agreed to help with my issue. I know this is a very common problem that is happening over and over again. Even if she cannot help me locate my lost medicals in time, I would like to see if she can do something to prevent this from happening to other people repeatedly. She seems very eager to help, especially since I am a military family. It would be very helpful if other people who have experienced USCIS losing their medicals were to contact her. Please private message me if this has happened to you and I can put you in touch with her. I also urge you to contact the ombudsman (http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/cisomb.shtm).

I find it appalling that so many people have a hard time dealing with immigration. I don't understand why I should have to pay such a high fee for AOS only to have mistakes be made by USCIS at my expense. If any business didn't provide a service that was paid for or if they made a mistake, they would have to pay for the expense of that mistake. However, because we are immigrants, and deportation/being separated from our loved ones is at risk, we often just go along with the ridiculous nature of this process.

Yes, they did exactly the same thing with my son's application. On my opinion, the best thing to do is have another medical visit (it will cost you on average 200$). Do not go for the long way to find the old medical report, you don't want to lose time. And after we sent the new RFE, my son's CG came very quick (two weeks). Good Luck!

Thank you for the answer! I really appreciate you taking your time. Now I feel much better. All the best!

My kid received today his CG, based on my marriage. He came in the US after I did, so he filed for adjustment of status (from K2 visa) months after I did. I got married before he was 19 and after applying for adjustment of status I received a 2year conditional CG which expires on August 2013. Since he applied after I did (plus it took him more 7and 1/2 months to get his CG), his GC expires on May 2014 (two years from now and after mine expires).

When he will file for removal of the conditions for his CG, he will be 22.5 years old. My concern is about his age, because I have read somewhere about a certain age limit of 21, but I am not sure if it appliesd and/or affects his case

Are my concerns real?

Thank you in advance!