smb21

Okay....so I just got an e-mail and text (and went to the USCIS website and checked, because that felt unreal):

"On May 3, 2013, 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."

However, there are no circles marked on the status page and I'm just going to wait until we get a letter in the mail and a physical GC before I believe that.

Perhaps our area in the East Coast is getting lucky! My husband got his approval letter yesterday in the mail so maybe it sounds like your wife's approval has arrived too!

Thank you and I appreciate you updating my timeline! When I got the mail and saw the envelope, I immediately thought it was a RFE letter even though we were thorough in our packet. We will be celebrating this weekend, that's for sure!!

What a shocking surprise! Today my husband got his approval letter! The letter was dated 4/29/13. I am still in disbelief as I know VSC is still processing applicants way before our filing in December 2012. I guess someone up there likes us :)Thank you so much to everyone who helped us on this forum! Good luck!!!

Thanks for the responses! My husband leaves tomorrow for England and returns next Wednesday. I just wanted to confirm that all will be okay with the expired GC and the NOA1 letter! Thanks!!

Good morning! I know this topic has been discussed here before but I just wanted to double check the regulations. My husband will be traveling back to England next week to visit his son at college. Currently, we are waiting for his conditions to be removed. We filed our joint I-751 in December 2012 and obviously due to the lovely processing times, we are still awaiting his approval. He has his NOA1 letter so am I correct that he should bring his expired green card and his NOA1 letter with him when he travels? I just want to confirm he will be doing what it is expected and proper! Thank you!!

My husband gained permanent residency in December 2010 after our June 2010 marriage. We purchased our first home in August 2011. When we began to compile our documentation to remove his conditions, we realized that we were supposed to change our address when we bought our house in August 2011!! I was really concerned that this would be an issue for us, however, we immediately filled out the proper paperwork and submitted them ASAP. Thankfully, the change of address was acknowledged with no letter from Immigration on either parts giving us a hard time! Whew!

My advice is to send the change of address ASAP. That is what we did and then we filed our joint I-751 package with our current home address!

Well, we got an RFE, not completely unexpected considering our marriage doesn't fit into the cute little mold that USCIS wants it to. We don't have joint bank accounts because we deal with our money separately since hubby is self-employed. Mortgage is in my name only because I owned it long before we were married. We file taxes separately because mine are easy and I get a big refund, and his are difficult since he still has income from the UK and we have to factor in the US tax treaty with Great Britain.

We sent in bills, and drivers licenses with the same address, car insurance with him as a covered driver, medical insurance from my job that shows he is covered, and a letter from a mutual friend. We really don't have much else, but just because we haven't co-mingled our finances, it doesn't mean we don't have a real marriage. Perhaps I should send in pictures of the 5000 coffee cups he uses and I have to collect from around the house everyday...

So, hopefully there will be an interview. Worse case scenario, I expect them to start removal proceedings at which point we will go in front of the judge and flip USCIS one great big bird with each hand.

We are older. We had lives before getting married, at 42 years old I have absolutely no intention of having more children...apparently USCIS thinks everyone should be twenty-something's, just getting started, and doing everything together, rather than older adults who had lives previously and didn't feel the need to contact every utility company in a household that had been established for years prior to the marriage, to have everything changed to be in both names.

Oh well, bring it on USCIS, I'm feeling feisty today...

Edited to avoid beatings from the grammar-police...

I like your #######! Hope your process goes smoother from here on in!

And I gotta agree with you on the USCIS looking for certain things to define a marriage. My husband is 46 and I am 36. Perhaps we might have a child in the future but at this juncture, we are content with the two of us. I honestly do not know why children equals a legitimate marriage in USCIS' eyes!

My husband's biometrics was today - I mistakenly reported the date was "1/8/13" when I first posted on here. Ooops! He just sent me a text that it was fairly quick and is all done! One more step done! Yea!

How come he wound up doing biometrics in Elizabeth the first time?

Pretty much all Philly surrounding areas have to roll to the ACS center in Northeast Philly I thought.

We used to live in New Jersey, but bought our home last year in PA!

We live in Pennsylvania

My husband got his biometrics appointment letter last night!! His appointment is set for January 8, 2013 in Philadelphia!! Last time he had to travel to Elizabeth, NJ so he is pleased to be able to go closer to our home this time around!

Thanks for adding me to the list!!! Our NOA was dated December 3, 2012!

Came home to find our NOA! Woohoo! I am so happy! One step closer to my hubby's conditions removed!!

My husband and I just filed our joint I-751 on November 30, 2012 and just saw our check was cashed by the VSC yesterday! So I guess now it is time to wait for the NOA1 and hopefully this process won't be too long! Good luck to all the December filers!!

I guess I shouldn't be so concerned, considering it isn't like my husband and I are millionaires!

As far as pictures go, what is the general feeling of submitting photos? My husband and I do not have any children yet and neither one of us have life insurance policies at this juncture. We have plenty of other documentation proving the validity of our marriage, but I worry that since we do not have two items specified on the I-751 instructions, that USCIS will see that as unacceptable by their standards.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened to my husband and I when we first filed our I-129F. We were completely clueless to the correct steps and call us crazy, but we really did think that it was as simple as filling out a form and submitting a check. We assumed that evidence, etc. would come at a later time. We were denied right off the bat - of course AFTER they cashed our check. It was a very expensive lesson to learn and we were sure to make sure we did it properly when we re-filed. We just celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary!

We all make mistakes do not beat yourself up too badly!

I don't think it makes any difference, provided that you don't file late. However, bear in mind that if you wait until the last few days, and then something goes wrong (shipping is misplaced, it gets returned to you because you forgot to sign a form, etc.) and you run out of time, you're sort of screwed. It's better to allow yourselves some extra time in case you need to resend everything.

Thanks! We hadn't planned on filing any later than the next week or so! We just want to move onto the next chapter of our lives!!

Another question - when submitting joint bank statements to USCIS, it is required to have your full bank account number showing or can you black out any of the numbers? While I appreciate the fact that our account information should be secure with USCIS, it does make me nervous feeling so exposed that my bank account number is there for anyone who touches our file sees!

I was curious as to what the latest you can file your I-751 paperwork. My husband's ROC window opened on September 10th and we have the majority of our documentation compiled - just finalizing our documents. Of course I am a nervous wreck, panicking that we need to submit everything within a few days of his "window opening" but I do see that some people have waited a month after their window opened to submit their documentation to USCIS. Obviously I know that the sooner your stuff gets out, the better but is there a difference to USCIS if you file the day after you are allowed to file or one month afterwards?

What is the standard to sending copies of bank statements, electric bills, phone bills, etc., showing joint accounts? I don't know if my husband and I should be sending months of our bank statements or if 1 or 2 months is sufficient?

My husband's permanent residency card expires on 12/9/2012, therefore, the earliest we could send out our materials would be 9/10/12. We are finalizing our package and I am hoping to have it sent via FedEx by this Friday or early next week. We just returned from vacation so we are a bit behind in getting everything put together! As it appears the VSC is extremely far behind, I guess my husband won't be seeing much progress on their part until 2013. UGH!

After you send his I-175, you will receive your NOA1 shortly. The NOA states that he is allowed to live and work in the country for a year. If he travels after his GC expires, he must carry the letter as proof.

Fantastic! Thank you for the assistance!!

I am sure this question has been asked before but since this thread seems to be popular, I thought I could ask here and someone could answer it for me. My husband and I will be filing our I-751 next month to remove his conditions as his conditional residence expires in December 2012. Although I understand this is a process, we would be filing through Vermont Service Center and I note that it appears they are still processing applications from September 2011, as noted on the USCIS website. So if the USCIS does not even look at my husband's application until after his conditional residence expires, would there be any cause for concern? I know we aren't supposed to file until during the 90 days immediately before his second anniversary of the date he was accorded conditional resident status. However, I worry about his residency expiring before VSC even looks at our documents??

My husband and I will need to start compiling documentation for his conditions to be removed in the near future. My husband became a permanent resident in December 2010, after we were married in June 2010. Reading through this forum, I am curious as to how much documentation is considered sufficient. Unfortunately, my husband and I have not had children yet but we have bought a home, have established joint assets, bills, and can provide sworn affidavits. Is it necessary to provide pictures of us throughout our marriage? Obviously we want to do this 100% by the book. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!