Anna Grant

12 hours ago, mia166 said:

oh hey I am May 23, too. And no we still stay marriage. I don't quite understand since I submitted many legit evidence (health insurance, bill, car, and house insurance..) also I got my last name changed as well

Did you also include joint bank statements for the length of your marriage so far? Affidavits from friends that have known you for the length of your relationship? 

3 hours ago, Eks1022 said:

Which month /date filer??

May 19th at CSC. I got my card in mid February.

11 hours ago, TYorke1 said:

I know this is a how long is a piece of string type question but on average how soon is the new card received after approval of the I-751 at CSC? My status changed to new card being produced on 03/03 and I received the approval letter today. I'm going to barbados on March 22nd and really hope it arrives before then. 

 

Thanks guys

My card arrived the day after the approval letter.

On 1/26/2017 at 5:07 AM, Anna Grant said:

I received an email from USCIS last night

 

Application Type: CRI89, PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED 

Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production 

On January 25, 2017, we ordered your new card for Receipt Number WACxxxxxxxxxx, and will mail it to the address you gave us. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address. 

 

So relieved. Interestingly enough, this was the day after I spoke to a tier 2 person complaining about the delay. And to check they had my correct address on file. She said that they were currently working on applications from 4 days earlier than mine. So I wouldn't be able to chase it up until next week. And now I don't have to. Next step citizenship in three months time!

My case updated to say that my card has been mailed out today. I remember being able to track my conditional green card but can't remember how. Anyone able to help?

2 hours ago, Dutchster said:

This has nothing to go with VWP Europeans travel on. It's an interview waver for  renewal of a tourist visa. Not the same thing. 

Sorry. My bad.

The potential draft executive order limiting entry from certain countries is troubling:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5888fe00e4b0024605fd591d

But this sentence jumped out as a surprise:

Suspend the visa interview waiver program indefinitely and review whether existing reciprocity agreements are reciprocal in practice.

I do hope this is not true or is just a short term thing to analyze the countries on the list. I am already in the US but I worry about people travelling here.

1 hour ago, Alexs said:

Which day did they receive your application?

18 May.

I was worried because we live a non-traditional lifestyle (we travel all year) and, therefore, don't have a lot of the stuff that most people have to support our application e.g no rent, utilities, etc. And I only sent a handful of bank statements. However, we still got approved. We did get interviewed for AOS which was just before we started traveling, so I don't know whether that approval helped this one or if they're independent of each other.

I received an email from USCIS last night

Application Type: CRI89, PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED 

Your Case Status: Card/ Document Production 

On January 25, 2017, we ordered your new card for Receipt Number WACxxxxxxxxxx, and will mail it to the address you gave us. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address. 

So relieved. Interestingly enough, this was the day after I spoke to a tier 2 person complaining about the delay. And to check they had my correct address on file. She said that they were currently working on applications from 4 days earlier than mine. So I wouldn't be able to chase it up until next week. And now I don't have to. Next step citizenship in three months time!

They also scheduled my biometrics closer to the mailing address. I ended up doing a walk in to the location nearby and it wasn't a problem. Maybe you can try that?

Called USCIS yesterday morning and they advised the same. Walked into the ASC in Anchorage at about 11am yesterday morning and they did my biometrics for me without any problem. They said that it was not the first time that USCIS had sent appointments for the mailing address instead of the physical address - they had already had people in this summer who are in Alaska on vacation. Pleased to have got the biometrics out of the way, after a stressful weekend. Now the wait starts again.

Received my biometric appointment but they've scheduled for my mailing address in South Dakota instead of my physical address is Alaska. The two addresses are over 3000 miles apart! In three days time! What is the point of having a physical address field on the form if they take no notice of it?! And I attached a note to the back of the form explaining that I needed the biometric appointment to be in Anchorage. I just knew they'd mess it up. I did look at the possibility of flying to SD for the appointment but it would cost $1000 and require a change of planes and a stay in a hotel on Sunday night.

So. Early Monday morning, I will be on the phone to USCIS trying to sort this mess up. It doesn't help that the letter says that if you don't turn up to the appointment, your application will be considered to be abandoned.

They did a similar thing with our AOS interview.. When it comes to citizenship, I'm not going to apply until we've settled down in one place.

Got my biometrics letter. For some reason they scheduled it at a location close to the mailing address, not the physical

I hope to hell that they don't do that to me - our physical and mailing address are over 3000 miles apart! We are in Alaska for the summer and our mailing address is in South Dakota.

I've updated the spreadsheet with my NOA1 date which was 13 May - the same day they received the package. At least I know I'm going to be able to get back into the US from Canada in September :-)

My check was cashed today (it's in the pending section of our online checking account), exactly one week since they received the package (I'm with CSC).

We sent our package to CSC on 13 May (day 90 before my GC expires :-)). Received on 18 May.

Our case is complicated by us living a mobile lifestyle. We don't have an apartment or utility bills. We are also in Alaska for the summer and are not planning to leave here until after my two year GC expires. Let's see if they can manage to get the NOA1 to the right address and arrange the biometrics appointment to the right state!

BTW when we entered Alaska in April by land, USCIS took my fingerprints and a photo. They said they do this periodically for people on a CGC.

Check not yet cashed but still early days.

While we were going through the K1 visa process, my husband and I opened up a checking account with US Bank on one of my visits to the US - my husband had a savings account with them. After I moved to the US and we got married, I got a charge card with US Bank. They would only allow me a College charge card with a $500 credit limit but it was a start.

We recently bought a new motorhome (we are full-timers RVers) and got a joint loan for around $25K without any problem. So it's possible to build a decent credit rating from little acorns.

How about in my situation? Hi everyone i went to Aruba in December with my fiance who is from there and my family came along as well. They wanted to meet her family before we got married. Everything went great except when we went to board the plane to come back to the US for Christmas and New Years. They wouldnt let her board the plane. She didnt have a returning flight back to Aruba, so it immediately drew red flags and said she is unable to come into the US unless she gets a visa. They said her dutch passport yes allows her to visit for 3 months, but seeing she didnt have a returning flight they say that passport is for visiting she plans to stay, and denied her entry. The next day she got an email from ESTA saying she is restricted from travel to the US until she gets a visa. We are in the process of getting the visa. I'm now forced to spend time with her down in Aruba while we wait for approval. My petition was received jan. 15th. If there was anyway she could visit me while we wait for approval?

I'm sorry for your experience.

However, the lack of return or onward ticket is not just a 'red flag' as others have mentioned. It actually contravenes the terms of the Visa Waiver Program:

See 'who is eligible' on this page https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/WebHelp/ESTA_Screen-Level_Online_Help_1.htm

I just thought I would point this out to others who find this thread in the future. The only time you may get away without having a return or onward ticket is you're arriving on a visitor's visa where it is not a requirement. However, it may still raise a 'red flag'.

For posters who are wondering what proofs to bring with them when entering the US whilst in the visa process, I've always found this page useful:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1visit

I visited around 6 times during this process (this was when applications were taking 9 months from NOA1 to NOA2). I came thoroughly prepared each time with supporting documentation but was only once asked to provide evidence of my return ticket. Of course, as the process continued, my ties to the UK got more and more tenuous!

Once your K1 visa is approved and stuck in your passport, you will have to enter the U.S. using it on your next visit. You won't be able to use the VWP as again. Once your K1 visa is approved, you will have 6 months from the time of your medical to enter the U.S. and then 90 days to marry.

Banjomonkey, we are in a similar situation. It is simply not cost effective to buy airline tickets from the USA to here when it can be done the other way around. My latest ESTA expired a month ago and I will need to apply for a new one to visit the US in October/December. Yesterday we sent an online query to the US Embassy in London via their website, posing the same question you did. The gist of the query was:

Can I apply for a new ESTA while the K1 is being processed?

Will this have any impact on the K1 application?

What proof of ties are recommended, if required? (I will be taking these regardless, but it's always good to hear it directly from the source).

They responded to a previous query submitted in this manner within a few days, so as soon as they respond, I will share the information with you.

We applied for the K1 in July 2012. I needed a new ESTA in October 2012 as I had to renew my passport. The ESTA was approved instantly as before.

Take plenty of ties to show you need to return to the UK (well, it may be the UK for the next week :-)).

I visited the US about 6 times in just over 15 months - the shortest time for 6 days - the longest time for 90 days. I only ever needed to show my return ticket once - I never had to show anything else.

Cool - it sounds like the one I called might be prepared to do that. They quoted me various prices depending on what's needed and I have full vaccination records so hopefully it'll be as straightforward as that as I had everything brought up to date last summer before leaving the UK so I'm good on all the vaccinations for years yet. The CS office is only about 20 minutes from USCIS so once I get the paperwork, I'll just go drop it off and save another couple of days on mailing it. Thanks for the additional info - it helps to know I can ask them just to transcribe the details instead of going through the whole medical process again!

I agree, it was annoying and a bit worrying but now I know the rules have changed it makes a lot more sense. If only I'd checked in advance, but we were kind of busy just getting on with normal life - that still feels important even now I've been here almost 10 months.

If you'd checked in advance, you would probably not have found out about it. It happened to me around 3 weeks ago and I think I was one of the first people to report it here. My interviewing officer said it was a new rule change.

For a K1 visa going through AOS, it's about a 50/50 chance of being called to an interview. It seems to be random as to whether you are called or not. You will be expected to provide evidence at your AOS interview of your bona fide relationship. We were interviewed over a year after the NOA1 date for our AOS application, so it would be expected that we would have a lot of evidence, which we did.

We were given an RFE at the interview for my medical but once that was resolved, my GC card went into production a couple of days later.

The interview itself was fine - about 25 minutes just chatting about our relationship, how we got together, have we met each others families. He took our packet of 'bona fides' (as he called them) and photocopied the card that came with the flowers that my stepsons sent me on Mother's Day. Fairly painless but we were well prepared.

Yeah. I was stung with this a few weeks ago. So annoying to get it at the interview.

I don't think you will have to do the whole medical again. I phoned around a few CSs, crossed out the ones who said I had to have a new medical and went with one who would transcribe my details including vaccinations. Cost $65. I took the paperwork back to the USCIS office within 7 hours of our interview and my status update a couple of working days later to say my GC had gone into production.

I think if/when the officer at his next interview realises you got pregnant while he was married to this other woman who also happened to be a US citizen, they may believe your boyfriend to be going through different women to try getting into the US, especially since the pregnancy happened so soon after the first visa rejection. It makes it look like the first wife was an object who lost its use once the visa was rejected, so he dropped her and found another to try again with.

The timelines suggest that the OP was already pregnant when he went for the interview. If the consulate do the math, they will realize that he was trying to get a visa through marriage even though he had already got another US citizen pregnant. Who he is now trying to get a visa through!

I would say it looks unlikely that he will get a visa - even if you get married. It looks like he is trying to get to the US and get a Green Card through marriage to a US citizen. This may not be the case with your relationship but it is certainly the way it will be viewed by the interviewing officer - even if it were not at such a stringent country like DR.

You face an uphill struggle.

You can come visit and stay as long as CBP allows you but at some point you'll need to return home so that you can collect your visa.

And have the medical and interview!

I submitted our K1 petition whilst in the US at the beginning of a 3 month stay. I then spent the next 9 months going back and forth from the UK to the US. When you eventually have your K1 visa in your passport, you will have to enter the US using that visa and then marry your fiancé within 90 days.

Obviously, there is a lot more to it than that but that is a quick response.

I was accused of having a 'fake English accent' at Sonic.

I'll be going to a Renaissance Fair next Sunday where most of the staff will be trying out their fake English accents!

I might have to go and eat a packet here in the UK just to get my fill before I leave. I don't think I've eaten pickled onion monster munch since school... In a similar vein, I binged my way through an entire packet of crumpets the other day.

Warbuton's? I still miss them. I bought some for a obscene amount of money from an online store but they weren't the same as they were frozen.

I was in hospital 3 months ago with a chest infection and fluid on right lung and my blood pressure was perfectly normal. It always has been thankfully, always slightly low if anything but that's normal for me.

Your blood pressure should be fine then. They may lecture you a bit once they work out your BMI. I was told 'You know your BMI is 31'. I said 'yes, I do'.

If you've recently had a chest infection that required hospitalisation, I assume you have all that information to take with you to the medical? You will have a chest x-ray.