GJ&Rach

10 hours ago, Dave&Kal said:

I read this article (   In general, immigrants who are LPRs are not subject to the public charge test. It is aliens who are seeking to become LPRs (through a visa application or an application for admission or adjustment of status) who have to convince a USCIS or consular officer that they are not likely to become a public charge.)  and continues (  LPRs do not have to meet a public charge test to become citizens, and there is no public charge test for immigrants or U.S. citizens seeking to sponsor an immigrant. )  And as indicated in the news ( which has made all of us concerned) that the administration is going after the change of definition for public charge, simply because it is something in the hand and power and does not need congressional approval! So what i am trying to understand is, how the change of the public charge definition could change the way it applies! if it wasn't used before against the citizenship applicants, so that should remain intact! right? or wouldn't that need congressional approval for changing citizenship application requirements? ( because that would be a new requirement for the applicant and that is not something the administration have the power to enforce unilaterally! ) am i thinking right? 

 

 

For further info, here is what USCIS website also says:

For benefits adjudicated by USCIS, whether a person is likely to become a public charge is usually considered when someone is trying to become a permanent resident (get a green card). It is also considered when someone applies for certain non-immigrant or other temporary benefits, for example by extending non-immigrant status within the United States.

There are certain groups of people who are either exempt from public charge, or may get a waiver for public charge when applying for a green card or other benefits with USCIS. These include:

1. Refugees
2. Asylum applicants
3. Refugees and asylees applying for adjustment to permanent resident status
4. Amerasian Immigrants (for their initial admission)
5. Individuals granted relief under the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA)
6. Individuals granted relief under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA)
7. Individuals granted relief under the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA)
8. Individuals applying for a T Visa
9. Individuals applying for a U Visa
10. Individuals who possess a T visa and are trying to become a permanent resident (get a green card)
11. Individuals who possess a U visa and are trying to become a permanent resident (get a green card)
12. Applicants for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
13. Certain applicants under the LIFE Act Provisions

 

source: https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge

Extending non immigrant status, is that renewing the 10 year green card?

My kids and I had benefits both before and after hubby arrived. However he never had any benefits besides being on the tax return with the EITC. We lived in a home I had rented and I received section 8 while living there. I and the kids received food stamps for a while after we married but he did not. The kids and I were in Medicaid, he was uninsured. All this changed when he also got a good job with benefits.. It allowed all of us to drop the help programs. But now I worry it will be held against him.

5 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

He can renew his greencard. thats not a problem, as far as i know.

 

With you being on ANY kind of social assistance.... he is correct in that it could affect his ability to become a citizen.

This still applies even though he never received any assistance, only myself and my kids? They are not his kids either. Even though none of us use any of it anymore? I understood GC renewals and citizenship applications are being denied based on this stuff from the past already.

To be clear my question is not about Obamacare, we have never used it. He went without insurance until he got employer based insurance. 

So when my husband came here, my kids and I were on medicaid and food stamps. We had a secondary sponsor. I have a son who was on SSI. I got the earned income tax credit last year. Now we are fully self sufficient, and the son on SSI has moved out, but hubby says that even though he never got any medicaid, food stamps, etc, that he would be denied if he filed for citizenship because it is now being changed to include anyone in the household at any time since he immigrated getting any public benefits. It sounds like the threshold is that if you as an immigrant don't immediately make enough to keep the entire household from taking a dime from the government, you will be denied citizenship, regardless of whether those people were entitled to it or not. He's been here for almost 5 years now, we are both working and pay our own way but if they are counting things in the past that he didn't even receive..? His green card expires in 2027, but it appears that he won't be able to renew it, or apply for citizenship. He wouldn't be able to take me back to the Netherlands with him either since they require a large income and work history to sponsor someone. I'm afraid they are trying very hard to put an expiration date of his green card expiration on our marriage! 

How long after filing an online address change does it take to take effect? We just moved and I filled it online but now I see that they are working on the week we filed and am worried they will send out the green card before the change goes into effect

we got a email the other day saying card has been ordered, then got a notice of decision saying permanent resident status has been recorded. Still waiting on the mailings, oth of the decision (with possible further instructions) and the actual greencard. Here's to hoping it's not a fluke like we had with the fiance visa LOL.

Got a notice today that his card has been ordered. Here's to hoping it isn't a mistake like on the fiance visa lol....they approved it, then reopened it and sent an RFE and it took another few months! I looked at it just yesterday and it wasn't approved yet...but who knows. I won't hold my breath till they actually mail it LOL.

We got a letter last month from the national benefit center saying that our case has been identified as a potential interview waiver case. Maybe we won't have to go through an interview. It also says that due to workload factors not related, they expect a delay of about 6 months from the date of the letter in processing the case.

So I'm confused, where's my case at? I don't see the I-485 AOS from family even listed in the list of processing times at the NBC. How do I find out where they're at in processing?

Nevermind, that isn't what happened. Disregard this post.

Apparently our case was transferred to CSC and we may not have to do an interview. Any idea on how I find out processing time for the I-485 from fiance visa marriage? And when I do, does the processing date mean when it was originally filed or when it was transferred to CSC? A bit confused here. (Hopeful though of no interview, straight approval)

I am completely unable to reach the website for USCIS to check case status, any link that leads to it gives me a webpage unavailable...anyone else having this problem?

I was able to add my husband on my bank account without him having a state ID, he just used his passport, and they wanted a copy of the social security number as soon as he got it. That bank is closing their branches here so we just had to get an account at a different bank, same deal, just used his passport and SS card. I'd suggest find a different bank, that credit union is just being annoying, there is no rule that says you can't be on an account except for each banking center's own rules.

So....I don't need to worry about the change of address notification on the AOS app? (note, it's been sitting in acceptance status since we filed in january, odd how it changes to initial review)

We got several emails, one saying EAD has been approved and is in production, and 2 others saying the address has been changed regarding the AOS and Travel doc....what's up with that? We didnt change address... The AOS has been sitting in acceptance since they received it, now it's in initial review but says address has been changed. Kinda confused....I dont think those are being handled by the same place so why would they update like that at the same time?

Edit: Travel doc was just approved too, but AOS still says address changed..

I called jesse white's office regarding this same thing, I was told that once hubby gets his 1 year green card he will qualify for a license, and that until then it is legal for him to drive on his foreign license.

Well dang >.> made the same mistake here. So i guess we wait for the RFE.

UPDATE:

Ok so I called all over the place. Dunno if anyone remembers the nightmare we had trying to get his stuff he imported, the customs office in st louis gave us grief over it.

Well, I called USCIS, they told me to file form I-102, which has a $330 filing fee. UGH. So i called the department of homeland security, they said call the customs office. The customs department told us to call the customs office in the airport he entered the US in. The airport said what happened is this: since he had a return ticket, the airline automatically put his name on the departing list, so the departure was entered in the system, which inactivated his I-94 number. So they said he needed to physically go in to the nearest office (st louis MO or Chicago IL) and have them remove the departure from the system.

Well, since chicago is 5 hours, and st louis is 2....I took a chance and called the st louis office to see what their protocol is for this. I told them what happened, and asked if maybe they remembered us. LOL. It was the same officer that gave us grief when we were there before. He remembered us, and he remembered when we were there. He looked GJ up in the system...looked at the departure date listed...he remembered we were there almost a month after the listed departure. He got permission from his supervisor to simply delete the departure from the system, did it right over the phone. Now the number shows up again.

So, Problem solved! I guess it evened out in the end with that customs office

When we printed the I-94 off that site right after we got married in october, it was there. Now it isn't. I have what we printed a couple of months ago, but if the website doesnt show it...then what?

He didnt get a paper I-94, he got a stamp in his passport with k1, jan '14 written on it.

Ok so when he bought his ticket to come over on the approved k-1 visa, he bought a round trip ticket because it was 1/5th of the price. He arrived on oct 17th. We got married the 21st. We printed out his 1-94 from the website, then applied for a SS#. He hasn't received his SS number yet (it's been like 7-8 weeks) because there's 'some glitch with the SS computers and the DHS computers talking or something, working on it'. Now we're trying to do the AOS, but apparently his I-94 isn't in the system anymore. So I called customs at the chicago airport where he came in, they said that sometimes if the person gets a round trip ticket, the airline will automatically put it in the system, which boots the I-94 out of the computer system. And to fix it we have to physically go into the customs office (several hours away) to prove he's still here and give them the passport and visa and such.

So do we have to do that before we can file the AOS? His k-1 runs out the 14th of january! I'm guessing this is also why he hasn't got the SS number....what now?

We're about to file for the AOS and EAD, court isn't until mid January. We're considering fighting it. Wondering how this will affect anything, and whether he'll be able to get a license here, no idea how many points it would add to a license, no idea how that affects a European license, don't know if they could suspend his license, or refuse to give him a IL license. The way he did the turn was by the book for The Netherlands where his license was issued, but apparently illegal here. HMMM. Any advice?

He used a shipping company out of rotterdam, which connected to a freight forwarder. His shipping company asked him if he wanted to pay extra to have them deal with the customs stuff when it arrived here (by their agent in the USA, CaroTrans, Who's agent is the person we had actually talk to the customs officer on the phone and was told "bug off basically), or whether he wanted to do it. He paid the extra for them to do it. All he was supposed to have to do was fill out the forms and get the clearance and pick it up. Apparently the intrusive physical exam is done by a third party also so they are paid extra/separately from the free importing rule.Since things missing were in boxes customs opened, and were resealed without them, and the packaging when we picked it up looked fine, things were damaged/removed when the exam was done. Which of course, Customs won't do anything about.

Heh, a nice platter that went with a set of pretty cocktail glasses is missing altogether, his computer case (steel!) is horribly bent up, other things missing, chipped, broken.... GRRRRRRRR

Gj shipped his personal effects from the netherlands on oct 9th. 1 small pallet, it fit in a car. smart tv, computer, weight set...various toys and keepsakes and such. About $5,000 of stuff. They got held up in customs for x-ray, then devanned, and the entire container was gone through and hand inspected. Finally, on Dec 4th, after an extra week of delays getting it from chicago to st louis. The shipper here in the US sent us the forms to fill out, he had his passport with the visa and entry stamp, and a copy of his I-94, a packing list of exactly what was in it and bill of lading, and the cargo release from the shipper to the warehouse where it was shipped to for us to pick it up.

I called the warehouse before it arrived and they said we needed a customs release, and all we had to do was take the forms to the customs office and they'd give us the release to bring down to pick it up. I called customs, explained that he was bringing his personal effects in and we needed a customs release and they said to bring the paperwork to the office and they'd give us the release. I asked if there was any fee or anything else we needed and they said no.

So it's a whole day trip to do this. We're 3 hours from the warehouse each way. Had to make arrangements for the kids and take a day to do it. We got to the customs office with the paperwork, gave them a copy of his passport, all the paperwork. They looked at it, and then said..."2 things and you aren't going to like it. First, our system doesnt say anything about it being inspected, so we are going to have to go down and look in boxes and things. Second, you've got to get a broker." We asked what the broker was for, you need a broker to talk to us as a middleman between you and us. we asked when they could go down and look at it since we were from out of town, he said oh, it's down at XXX (which for the record is about 10 minutes away) so maybe tuesday or wednesday next week, you aren't going to get it today."

We explained that it had already been through the most intrusive examination in New Jersey but they insisted it had only been through an x-ray. We called our agent in New Jersey whom we'd been dealing with regularly already due to the unbelievable wait on all the customs exams and the "lost week" sitting in chicago, he told us yes it had been examined and he had proof, he asked for an email to send it to. I asked the customs agent, with him on the phone still for an email to send proof to that it was already done, then handed him the phone. The customs agent said "our system doent show it was done. I'm going to sound harsh here, but we get paid a lot of money to do this job, and we make the rules. We say we need to put eyes on it, so that's what we're going to do" then handed me back the phone. Customs agent then handed us a list of brokers in the area, a couple of which were downstairs that he suggested we try.

So we went down and found the first one, she said "they do this all the time if you're importing this just happens, and you're lucky this isn't a commercial shipment, then this is much worse." So we had to sign power of attorney for her to represent us, and said she'd talk to them. She said her fee was 85$, to be paid in cash or money order, and the warehouse has a 50$ extra fee for the customs exam also.

She told us to go find a coffee shop and wait, she'd see what she could do. This was at about 930 am. About 10 minutes later she calls and says they'll go look at it at about noon, so maybe you can get it today. Then she calls again about 1015 and said they were on their way right then already, and to come by and pay her before we go get it.

Found an ATM, got the cash for the broker fee, warehouse fee, and extra customs exam fees (lord we'd already paid about 250 in extra customs exam fees from the intrusive exam they did in jersey!) then went to the warehouse since she said they would leave the customs clearance fee with them. We called the warehouse at around noon hoping they'd be done and to make sure they left the release. They said they had, and it was all ready to be picked up.

Got to the warehouse, apparently they weren't charging us the extra 50$ because the customs lady got there (we'd dealt with 2 other men, no idea who she was) and took one look at it, saw the customs has opened this box tape all over everything and said she didnt need to touch it and left.

So apparently we were forced to use a broker we didnt need, for an exam we'd already had. I'm considering filing a complaint with customs. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have a question on this, I thought you weren't legally allowed to even look for work until you got your EAD?