Andrew83

My wife was born with a typical Hispanic name with 2 given names, and two last names. Upon coming to the U.S., she took my last name, dropped one of her last names, but still has four names. Her legal name now still has 2 given names of 5 and 8 letters (EX. Annie Foxworth) Her middle name has 6 letters (EX. Wilson). Last name 7 letters (EX. Johnson). So her legal name is (for example) Annie Foxworth Wilson Johnson, but on her Green Card her given name reads as: Annie Foxworth W, and her last name is Johnson. In Part 2, questions 1 and 2, it asks to provide documentation or explanation if the names aren't the same. Was their simply not enough room on the card to put her full name? Do I need to explain this? We have had no issues so far in terms of filing the I-751 or any other time in the immigration process. Thank you!

thank you so much for the help! How far back should we include our bank statements?

Hey everyone,

So tomorrow we are submitting our I-751 package, and would greatly appreciate an extra set(s) of eyes to look over what we will be submitting. I am the US citizen, and my wife and I married in July of 2014. Her GC expires April 5, 2016.

We are submitting

• Cover letter (we used the template here on VJ)
• Joint tax returns from 2013-2015 (2013 is an IRS transcript...the other 2 are TurboTax and each is like 50 pages long but it should have eeeeverything included. I've seen in some places that they want IRS transcripts, but will what I have suffice?)
• Affidavits from my parents
• Joint auto insurance
• Joint health insurance
• Life insurance that shows that she is the beneficiary in case I die and that I am the beneficiary in the event of her death
• Lease agreements showing her as an occupant dating back to when she arrived in the US (May 2013)
• Photo copies of every page in her passport and front and back of her green card
• Various photos of us throughout our marriage.
• Bank statements that show her as being on my account.

Things that concern me are:

• All the utilities are in my name. She is a full-time student, and I am the breadwinner.
• The tax info we have is extensive...maybe too extensive and not directly from the IRS except for the '13 transcript
• The time frame...her GC expires April 5 2016, so if we get an RFE, will she be deported if its not corrected by April 5th???
• Does the payment need to be two separate money orders, $505 for the I-751, and another for $85 for the biometric? or All together on one money order for $590?
• We haven't taken any trips that require itineraries since we got married. No flights together or anything.

I am so thankful to any and all of you who look at this and respond. I'm not worried with the time frame as long as what we submit is good.

Am I leaving out something or adding something that isn't necessary? All advice is welcome.

Thanks again so much!

Filed September 9th (I think? it's in my timeline...)...had an RFE for being stupid and sending wrong amount for the fee. Status has remained unchanged as "RFE Review' or whatever it was since October 9th. In Dec, we received the letter saying we'd likely not need to have an interview, and then on Saturday the status changed to Card in Production.

This is probably the least "awesome" feeling of any of the USCIS things simply because my wife has the EAD/AP Combo card so this doesn't really change anything. Maybe some others can chime in and let me know all the cool things that I'm not realizing. Oh...well one thing is that she can finally open a bank account now, since she's Colombian and they wouldn't allow her to open an account before.

Wonder how long it takes for her to receive it in the mail?

Im confused about the requirements for obtaining a driver's license in Georgia. My wife came in on a K-1 visa and is waiting on her green card and right now. She has her EAD/AP combo card and a SS card. From the list of required documents below, it appears she isn't eligible for a driver's license here until she has her GC?

Non-Citizen NOTE: DDS will only issue a driver's license in a name that exactly matches the original immigration documents. Visa Waiver; also requires unexpired Foreign Passport Unexpired Foreign Passport with a valid US Visa and valid I-94 or I-797; also requires I-766, I-20, or DS -2019 I-766 (TPS - Temporary Protected Status) I-766 (non TPS); also requires unexpired Foreign Passport I-551 or I-551 Stamp with photo on I-94 form I-551 Stamp; also requires unexpired Foreign Passport I-94 (Asylee status) I-94 (Refugee status) Certificate of Citizenship Certificate of Naturalization Unexpired Foreign Passport with Immigration Status of A, B, E, H, I, L, O, P, Q, R, or S

First of all, it's a pretty cool little card.

What should we know about booking flights, traveling while on AP? She's going to visit family in November until after Christmas and was curious if there was anything we should know before she travels?

--Use the name on her passport or combo card to buy ticket? For her the two are different

--With her married name she still doesn't really have a set signature here yet (I'm sure many of you can relate). Should she try to sign her name if ever necessary with that signature? Or not a big deal ?

--What line during immigration should she use? Tourist line right?

--also as a general question, while in the US, should she carry this card or leave it home?

--anything else I should know or things to remember would be great advice. I know most of this is no brainer type stuff, but she doesn't speak the best english (yet!) and as a USC, I've never needed to worry about this type of thing and I just want her to have the smoothest immigration experience possible since she'll be alone.

Thanks!!

anyone?

we haven't opened a bank account for her yet or gotten her drivers' license so I guess there's nothing we have to do. Her SS card has her new married name, but not we are getting off topic

woohoo!! We were worried because she has to go back to Spain in mid to late November and I just checked our case the the EAD combo card is in production (actually the case # for the EAD says it's in production and the AP case # is in post activity approved)...I guess that doesn't matter and it will be the combo card right?

Anyway it does say to allow 30 days to receive it but from all that I've read here it seems to take 7-10 days to receive it so that's good.

Is there anything I need to know about her traveling using the AP?

• Buy her ticket using the name on her passport (it's different than that of our marriage license and the name on her SS card is different too...I'll probably have to make another post about this but, should we worry about consolidating these names? can you get a new marriage license with the new married name on it? I'm not sure why it isn't already)
• Although she will only be gone until early January, she would technically have like 6 months to be out of the country right?
• Do we need to inform the CBP of anything or treat this as any other ticket/trip? What immigration line does she stand in on her return?

And finally, again I'll go look on the forums but is it possible to change a I-485 interview date? We haven't received one yet, but now our only worry is if we buy her ticket, and then get notice that her interview is say December 29th or something

Thanks guys!!

thanks alot for the response. Yeah i need to get on the that and fill in my timeline. We have until May 29 so by your timeline we should be ok! Hopefully this shutdown isn't slowing anything down, even a little.

I sure wish I knew about the walk-in for the biometrics before though!

man, nothing huh?

Our cases for AOS,AP, and EAD were received on Sept 6. We had our biometrics appointment yesterday, Oct 8th. Is it pretty reasonable to expect that my wife will receive her AP by late November? Obviously, ive seen that the current processing times are 3 months, but looking at timelines and posts it SEEMS to usually come 3-5 weeks after the biometrics.

She is from Colombia, moved to Spain at 13 and has had the Spanish equivalent of a green card for many years now. She is also currently awaiting her Spanish citizenship which she could be approved for at any time and was supposed to already be approved for, but with the problems in Spain, there have been delays. Her mother and sister applied at the same time, and her mother has already gotten it.

Anyway, she can't be outside of Spain for more than 6 months at a time until she gets her citizenship, and she got here on May 29th. I have NO idea what we'll do if she doesn't get the AP by then. In my eyes, if we had to choose, the Spanish nationality is more important right now, since the US green card and nationality will always be an option for her down the road as long as we're married, but man, what a waste of time and money if we had to abandon the AOS and all. Not to mention throwing an HUGE wrench into our life plans.

Thanks for any input or advice. And if anyone has recently received the AP, let me know how long it took in general and how long after biometrics please!!

thanks!

that is such a relief to hear! Hopefully we get the AP in about a month!

Everything went fine, but at the end she signed her name kinda wrong. My dad, who's worked in the federal government for more than 40 years, doesn't think it'll be an issue still has us worried because we desperately want her AP soon, by the end of November at the latest.

Say her maiden name is Ana Jane Gracia Lopez. This is the name on her passport and Visa. She goes by Jane.

After we married, her marriage certificate and SS card state Ana Jane Garcia Smith

Today she signed her name on the electronic pad as Jane Smith G

UGHH.

I don't know why, and she doesn't either. She said she didn't understand the lady very well, and felt rushed and pressured. I admit, the lady seemed rather cold but I know that part of it was because my wife just wasn't thinking.

Do you think this will be an issue? We actually went back in, and I had to embarrassingly explain what happened. The lady said that she had already sent all the info and couldn't do anything about it, and that maybe it'll come up at the interview for the green card.

I don't care, I just hope it won't slow down the AP!

We got an RFE last week concerning our I-485 and it was something simple (I didn't include proof of citizenship for my dad, our joint sponsor). It was mailed off Friday and our biometric is tomorrow so I'm guess it shouldn't slow anything down.

My question is, do they approve the I-485 separately from the I-131 and I-765? Because on the website, those 2 cases are in the "initial review" stage, while the I-485 is in the 'need more evidence' status.

As I mentioned, they've already received the evidence i've sent and the biometrics is to be done tomorrow meaning my mistake hopefully didn't cause any delay anyway, but even if it has, is the AP and employment authorization not affected?

thanks for the help everyone...

Should this slow things down or not you think? We have the biometric Oct 8th so I'm guessing they'll receive my dad's birth certificate the same day we do that. I dunno...Hopefully we'll get her AP by the end of November that's all we care about short term

well obviously it looks like I missed that....which is why I'm sending it now.

I'm not sure I sent proof for him.

We got what I guess is an RFE today. It's just a yellow sheet of paper stating that they are unable to continue until the following is corrected and we have 87 days to mail back to them.

It was that they needed proof that the joint sponsor is a US citizen. Funny since my dad is a long time Federal employee and the supporting evidence he sent should be proof enough since it could be easily verified, but it's ok, it's my fault in the end.

It says a birth certificate, but will a notarized copy be ok?

Also our Biometric appointment is Oct. 8th, and hopefully we'll get the EAD a month after if this doesn't slow that down. At least they're looking at our case.

man how could I have overlooked that and not double checked more thoroughly...

thanks everyone

Should I leave the I-797C Action of notices in the packet?

Ok well that's easy enough to fix. How could I have missed that?? I'm guessing it used to be 1010 and I had been reading outdated guides and threads on these forums

A certified bank check is ok though?

They mailed us the entire packet back, reorganized a little and thing I had paper clipped together they stapled.

The reason for rejection for each of the forms, I-131, I-485, and I-765 is due to incorrect amount. I sent a certified check from my bank in the amount of $1010.00 made out to the U.S. Department of Homeland security.

What did I do wrong and how should I correct it?

Do I simply mail back the packet as is, with new check or money order?

I thought $1010.00 was correct!

Thanks!

ok thanks

I called USCIS about this, and then looked on the website. We have lived in a different address than the one we used for my wife's K-1 visa for the last few months. I wasn't sure how important it was to officially change our address (to be completely honest, the moment she was approved, I didn't come back to the site or even think about immigration stuff until a couple of weeks ago).

Anyway, the USCIS official on the phone couldn't have been nicer and understanding. He said not everyone can know everything, and to just change our address ASAP and I didn't have to do anything since we didn't have any applications pending.

Today I changed the address for my wife, AND sent off the I-485 packet. So as of now do we have a pending application, therefore requiring me to notify them of my address? Or is it not pending until I receive and NOA1? Because after I changed the address for my wife, there was something asking if we had a pending application or petition and I said no.

I understand, and I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it. I guess we're all in the same boat at the end of the day.