virid

Why include the prenup? I do not think prenup could prove the bona fide marriage. It is actually a document that protect the pre-marriage property/assets or whatever before you got married. It cannot show the co-mingle of your financial source or prove that you guys live together as a married couple. so I do not think it is very useful to be included in your aos package. We did prenup but we did not include it in our aos package.

Thanks for this. Forgive my ignorance, but how can anyone know our thoughts other than reading this fourm? Are you suggesting that the timing of our filing (let's say, hypothetically, in January, when we return from overseas) may be suspicious and be cause for rejection? My wife leaves and returns several times a year. She just got back from a trip, so it seems we are in exactly the same position one way or the other. How do the authorities establish immigrant intent?

There are chances that you won't even be asked about your marriage when you return with F1 visa. In my case, I declared my marriage on DS160 form but no one asked me a single question about immigration intention or my marriage to USC. There are not many examples on Phd students got stuck outside the country in the middle of their study unless they are under security check. But I wouldn't file the aos right after return to the US because that would look like a visa fraud- using F1 to get in and then aos. After all, theoretically, if your already had the aos plan, you should not travel with F1 anymore.

Well I guess it depends. in my case, I got married in May and left US for honeymoon right after the wedding. I renewed my F1 visa in US consulate in Auckland, NZ. The IO didn't ask anything about my marriage even I put married on DS160 and indicated my spouse is USC. We got back to US in June via Seattle and I was not asked about marriage. But it was ture that I did not want to apply for green card back then because I want to bring my husband to NZ and start family there after our graduation. We decided to apply for green card for me after we got back because my husband got a very good job offer in US and my advisor thinks it is better for my career if I at least work here for a few years. If you already have the immigration intention but still apply for F1 that would be fraud.

Had my interview today at Phoenix office. The interview was very easy and we got approved. We arrived at 11:10am for the 11:15am appointment. There were a lot of people in the room and we waited about 30min to get called. The IO was a nice young lady and the interview took about 10mim. She sworn us in, took our driver's licenses and went over the information on the 485 and 130 forms (name, DOB, place of birth and etc) and asked the 485 yes/no questions. She then asked for my passport and took the I-94. The next question was when and where did we meet. I was not sure who should answer the question so I asked her but she said she does not care. So I answered the where and my husband answered when.....She then asked our occupation and since we said grad student, she asked when will we graduate. Shen then checked the file in her hand and said so I have your joint bank account statement, insurance card and the wedding receipt, honeymoon receipt and wedding/honeymoon pictures. What else do you have? I said we just opened another saving account together and handed her the statement. She asked why we have so many bank accounts and my husband explained the reason (we want to start saving money and start some investment). She agreed and told me my application has been recommended for approval and explained the ROC. She also asked if we have any questions but we did not really have any questions.

Hope everyone here has a easy interview and get approved on the spot!

And I got the txt for card production around 4pm Arizona time.

to virid,

Is it possible if you can send me an example draft of the statement that my international student office can help me write?

This is correspond to item number 3 that you listed above.

" 3. Full time student verification from my department"

I didn't get one from international student office. Mine was wrote by my program coordinator and printed with the department title. It is very simple. See below:

To Whom it May concern,

I am the graduate program coordinator for department **. I am here to confirm that Ms ** has been a full time graduate student in our department since 2008. Funding for her study is in the form of graduate assistantship: either as a Graduate Teaching Assistant or a Graduate Research Assistant at the compensatory amount of $25000 per twelve month year ($18000 for spring and fall semester and additional $7000 for summer semester). Funding for the remaining years will be in the same form and remain the same compensatory amount. Benefits of this appointment also include full tuition coverage as well as individual health insurance premiums for GA. The time commitment is estimated to be approximately 20 hour per week for a full time position.

If there are any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you virid, Brian&Ivy, and Newbie608 for the response.

virid, is this the link that you mention?

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=82005b46645fe210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ad3e1921c6898210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

I will post more if I found anything relevant.

It is actually the following links:

http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-11261/0-0-0-28757/0-0-0-29322.html

http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-11261/0-0-0-17197/0-0-0-17636.html#0-0-0-9213

I actually quoted the title 8 CFR 2(f) in my statement

I was in the same situation. Here are the list I submitted for my rfe: ( all photocopies)

1. F1 visa page

2. I94 back and front

3 i20 all 3 pages

3. Full time student verification from my department

4. TA/RA offer letter from advisor and department coordinator stating the funding will be available trough the entire study and the work load is 20hours per week.

5. USCIS documentation stating F1 can work on campus 20 hours per week. ( you can find this online)

6. Pay stub shows that the employer is my school

I also wrote a statement to further explain the situation: Basically i said I am a full time phd student with valid f1 visa. According to USCIS documentation (file number which I don't remember but easily find online), I can legally work on campus without further authorization. I provided the following documents to support my status. I signed the statement and put it on top of all my documents.

I did not submit 864 or tax transcript again because I submitted them in the original package.

20 days after I send it the package, I got my interview notice. Not sure if this would be brought up again on interview but I could keep you posted.

Congrats! I'm hoping for news this week!

Thanks. I think you will get your interview notice very soon. We have similar timeline. unless your local office is super busy....

It gets sent by usps since it is going to a PO BOX. I sent priority overnight, $24... But because it was heavy

Yay. You finally got your package out! You should get updates soon. My online status changed to rfe review two days after I sent my package. I did not even get a chance to use the tracking number from post office....

Got my interview notice txt message today. Interview on Nov.13th.

Ok, I have another question....

We pushed the wedding back a few weeks, so now we are getting married on October 6. This way my family is able to come to our wedding.

My question is this...my fiance is here on a multi-entry tourist visa. Once we are married what are the pros and cons of filing an AOS vs him returning to his country before we file? If we don't file the AOS and he goes back first, will our marriage negatively impact his tourist visa and his ability to come and go here in the US?

Thanks in advance.

Theoretically, your marriage will negatively impact his tourist visa because he would have strong immigration intention which is not allowed for non-immigrant visa. But my personal experience is: it depends on the immigration officer. I have a student visa which is also non-immigrant visa but I was able to renew my student visa in my home country after I got married to my USC husband. I clearly stated that my spouse is USC and the immigration officer didnt really care.

btw, the reason I didnt file AOS right after we got married is because I was not sure if I want to stay in US after I graduate.

I am as polite as I can be. The conversations are being recorded and in case the letter doesn't come on time to answer the RFE and the I-485 gets denied, I have enough basis to fight for it, hence why I'm being nice on the phone.

But even calling again and asking for a Tier 2 ISO wont help right now. Is not like they will fetch my letter and read it to me on the phone or something (even tho I really want to)

I am so sorry that you still didnt get your letter. I have the feeling they lost it in mail because I got mine on Saturday and I am in Arizona. It is far from MO. There is no way I got it and you did not. Hope you get this solved soon.

Yeah, still nothing for me. I am going to scream!!!!

I got mine today. Hope you get yours soon.

We have the same timeline!!

YES WE DO!!! I just notice that..... But I didnt do Fedex overnight, so my package didnt get there until Aug 23rd.....Guess that is why my NOA date is a day behind yours.

I am new to this website. Didnt know about it until I got RFE and start gathering information online....

Good luck to everyone!!!

Still no letter on the mail...#######?!

My RFE was sent out the same day as yours. Sept 8th. And I didn't get it from mail yet either. I think it is normal..... The USPS standard mail could take up to 9 business days for delivering......They are just not predictable.....

We will get it soon!! Hopefully....