FelixTX

Technically, there is nothing that says you cannot translate your own so long as you include a certified translation, but you are an interested party so USCIS may not accept it. You should get someone else to do it.

Free as in you dont have to pay. Rev.com charges ~$20 per translation.

If you want to translate it yourself go ahead, let us know how it goes.

I translated my birth certificate myself and certified to USCIS that I am proficient in both languages...

No RFE's and approved on the spot.

I just put a stack of pictures (Wedding mostly, but also from first meeting to all travels we had) into a foil and sent them in... I really don't think they care about it much... Llike they want evidence, I sent it in and they can flip through them as much as they want or don't want If they want to see the evidence they will look at it no matter how it was sent in

We were asked on our interview about it - answered by describing exactly how we met...

Yeah, I don't see the problem if you don't have anything to hide...

To me it would just depend on the officer... Do they want it to the point or is it more small talk... Detailed explanation and short and to the point both have their place and you will know what your officer wants when the time comes... Just be natural, nothing else matters...

You will also notice if the officer asked you, your spouse or both of you... Don't even be that nervous to think about little things like that... It's okay and it will be okay! If you don't have anything to hide why would you worry about "volunteering information"... My wife and I for example probably talked for five minutes about how and when we met and it didn't feel like an interrogation but just like small talk as we have had before about the same topic

did you have an interview?

You said that it varies from school to school but I thought that fafsa was a standardized federal system?

You can only apply for FAFSA when you have your Greencard and from January 1st of the year until the deadline for the school/state/federal... And this is for the term later... So if you get your Greencard, lets say May 2015, you might not be able to apply for finanical aid until January 2016, which would be financial aid for the Fall term of 2016 and Spring term 2017. (As far as I remember).

Adjustment of Status can vary at lot... You can be through in 2 months in lucky cases and sometimes it can take up to a year, even without red flags.

About the interview... You will most likely have an interview if you adjust from a non-immigrant visa.

Its been 5 weeks with no change online no GC in the mail. has anyone had this experience before. How long does it usually take??

Sorry to hear about that. I had mine the week following the interview. Since it has been over 30 days, I would call the hotline and if that won't help, set up an infopass appointment.

Good luck to you! Hope it was only a technical problem and you will get your GC soon!

The two posts above are only half-truths.

1. you can work on campus, if available, without obtaining authorization from DHS.

2. you can work off campus if you are on OPT/CPT.

3. you can work off campus if DHS has granted you permission based on financial hardship circumstances.

If you dropped classes, then you wouldn't be able to work on campus. Also, if you don't have approval from DHS to work nor on OPT/CPT, then no you are not legally allowed to work.

While this is true, it has nothing to do with his situation... He clearly stated he works at his school -> On Campus under his F1 visa, no OPT/CPT mentioned.

He works as a student worker under a F1 visa on Campus and now it looks like he is not enrolled anymore and should stop working.

Yes, you should be able to still work under your F1 Visa, just don't violate the terms of the visa. (e.g. Study part time, work more than 20 hours a week without EAD, etc.)

Hi Felix (and everyone else),

Can I clarify a question I have?

My husband and I are in the midst of AOS from J1 visa through marriage (he USC, me foreign spouse). We will be moving in December from Colorado to California.

My question is: When we file all the change of address forms, does everything transfer to the closest California office and they schedule the interview? And, how does that affect my "place in line"?

Thanks for the advice,

Hey,

yes, everything will transfer to the closest field office, you dont have to do anything. For us it was from the Dallas field office to the Orlando field office. We just sent in the two online "AR 11"'s one for the I-485 and one for the I-130 and then the I-865 per mail and everything was fine.

Yes, the move will most likely affect your place in line. For us it was very positive though. The Dallas office is backed up for many months and the Orlando office is working through the backlog very fast. The result was, someone that also applied at the Dallas office two weeks prior than us is still in line waiting for an interview appointment, whereas I already received my green card some days ago.

Hope this helps!

Don't worry about it yet... It took you months to get there and usually they say you should wait 30 days before inquiring about it. Also, the online system is not very reliable afaik. So just wait two more weeks, and if there is still nothing make an infopass appointment, but thats probably not necessary.

Good luck to you!

Update from me!

My wife and I moved from Texas to Central Florida (Orlando Area). We filed the Online Address Change once for the I-130 and once for the I-485 and then her I-865 (Change of Address for Sponsor) and everything went smooth.

We got all the address change correspondence and are here since one month and just got our Interview Appointment Letter... Which is interessting given the fact, that the Dallas Office is extremely backed up (Read of other people here that started the process a week before us and all they got is an email saying it could be another 6 months ++ or something) and Orlando immediately scheduled us after they got the I-865

Oh and: Application sent was beginning of April and the initial interview is beginning of September.

Just wanted to let you guys know!

When did that reassignment happen? I heard of that story before so I didn't open the link, sorry.

But for example the Dallas Office, had already 8 months processing time... And people said they were working on it... I checked the new numbers beginning of June and after one month, it takes Dallas an additional 15 days to process the I-485... I think people in Texas will have to wait quite some time now if that also has an extra impact on it... I hope Orlando will be faster

Thank you so much for your response I thought the AR11 would be sufficient, good that I asked

But if the I-130 would already be approved would we still have to send in something for the change of address for the I-130? Or do both I-130 and I-485 get approved at the same time at the interview or after?

Well, so my wife and I talked, and we just want to get out of here, so we plan on moving end of June/first days of July. (Our Case was accepted in Chicago April 8th, and Biometrics is scheduled for May 12th (Our office as said before is Dallas))

Two questions:

What do we have to file and where do we have to file for the change of address, etc.? I know the AR-11 has to be filled out at least online, are there other formulars that have to be filled out specific to the AOS package? Do we have to file a I-865 and "should" we send hardcopies to the Dallas office, get an Infopass appointment once we moved or/and call to ask about if the address was changed for the case just to make sure?

What if (I really don't expect it, but if...) we are just happily dancing around our trailer and full of joy are filling our truck, etc. with boxes and beds, etc. and I go with a huge smile on my face to my mailbox, open it and of course find a notice that we have been scheduled for an appointment, lets say begin of august, in Dallas, TX... What should we do? What would we have to file? Would it still be okay to change the address and then just fly in for the interview? Should we then call and reschedule it for the new office after we moved?

Thanks in advance!

Yeah you can, show your international Student Advisor the first I-797C.

But usually (As far as I know, at least its at my school like this). the summer sessions won't count towards the full semester and I as an F1 student do not need to take any classes in Summer I and Summer II and maintain a fulltime status. Only during the Spring and Fall semester I have to take a full load to keep my status.

I would be afraid to move......but that's just me. So many horror stories I've read when USCIS somehow didn't register the new address and people wouldn't get their interview letter, missed their interview, and got denied. Not trying to scare you guys, but I would be afraid and unless it's like an emergency to move instead of wait out a couple more months I would not move...and yes, that's just me. I'm sure someone will yelp in that they would move whenever they wanted to know regardless of their application status. Good luck to you both whatever you decide to do!

Yeah, thats what I have read about this, that is why I'm asking here if someone has experience with it. Because if it really is that bad, Ill rather not risk it... But if its just like, theyll accidentally send the Greencard out to the old address, Im not too worried. We have an awesome landlord, that would look at the mail and see that the new tenant wouldnt get the letter if I tell her that there could be an important letter fly in and she would immidiately inform me about it, so this is not the worry I have.

I just dont want to risk a huge delay of many months, or worst case, that they "lose" the files. Everything else is somewhat managable.

@Erica and Lily

That is nice to hear that more people have plans like that Might be more common, I wish you both definitly good luck on your way and that everything goes smooth!

@ValerieA

Well that sucks, but it definitly is better than them losing your file completly or other horror stories

I found the processing time for Dallas here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do

Which said for Dallas, TX under I-485, that they processed applications from the 26th of june 2013 on February 28th 2014

And now that I looked it up again it says As of March 31. that they process applications from July 27.

Hi everyone,

I've a question... My wife and I filed for AOS for me (German Citizen from F1) begin to mid of April, everything went smooth, till now and faster than I expected. I have my Biometrics in less than two weeks at the local biometrics office here. But my I-485 will be processed in Dallas, TX.

I have never thought of anything when putting in the application, but we planned on moving to Florida to her family after I received my Associates Degree here, plans before would have been, that I transfer to a University here and get my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. But since she has always lived in Florida and her parents moved back there, we thought of moving there with them when the AOS is through, which we thought would be fairly straight forward, we expected a processing time of 3 to 4 month and would then move after it in August. Needless to say, I would like to finish my Bachelor's Degree then in Florida after everything is worked out.

But now I read in another thread that the processing time for Dallas is extremly backed up and it looks as if the current time is about 9 months and really nothing keeps us here in Texas, we have already made our mind up and would like to move to Florida when I am done here... Im getting a little sick of the weather and always liked Florida and she of course would like to be able to see her parents and childhood friends more often, more so since her dad has a heart condition and traveling is getting harder for him in the future. Also we live in a smaller town, so there is not much going on, and I can't imagine sitting here at the end of the world without anything really to do, just the little apartment.

So now the question is... Will it be possible without problems to move as planned in August to Florida (Orlando Area) and just wait there to do the AOS? I heard of stories before, where USCIS lost the package or simply forgot to send the package when there was a change in address and local office.

Is this a good idea? Should we just stay put? Or are those reports just simply only the "bad" ones that people would like to solve and most of them go smoothly but unnoticed?

Thank you guys in advance, you were already a great help to us in filing

You can not send a personal check. Resubmit using only a cashiers check. I also believe the amount you sent was incorrect. make sure you are sending only the $300.00 or $400.00 something. Check on the amount

I sent two personal checks just 2 weeks ago or so and it was fine. And I never heard of being required to send cashiers checks, so I don't think thats why it got rejected. I also heard of many people just sending one check with the full amount and it was fine either. If he also spelled DHS out and didn't abriviate, there is not much left. Maybe he really wrote (accidentally) onto check and not on the line where it should be and thats why they rejected it. But who knows.

Please can someone confirm as I want to send the package tomorrow

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-131instr.pdf

Ahhhh -.- Thank you so much I could have thought of that one, haha, well then I guess its okay and it can be closed...

I field I-130, I-485 and I-765, so that explains it... Quicker than I thought... They received it tuesday afternoon.

Thank you again Im just nervous, I don't want to screw anything up

Hi everyone,

I was really excited when my wife just told me, that she got a text, that our case was accepted and that they will send Form I-797...

Then I opened my emails (We put my email address in there and her phone number, so each of us gets updated), and saw that I received three emails (just like her receiving 3 texts)...

I didn't think much of it, until I checked it closer...

We got three different notifications with three different Case numbers...

Did that happen before? All the numbers are following on each other, like 1, 2, 3... Can this lead to problems with the AOS?

Or should we just wait until we get the I-797 and if we get three letters we need to be worried?

Thank you in advance

Ignore my post then. Sorry! All the best with your AOS!

Thank you

I would do all the three if i were you...it is only beneficial for you GC here or there. So whether it is only one hour, or five hours, I would do it regardless of if it was for my GC, or not. But this is my humble opinion...

Like I said before in the post you quoted... I already have all shots up to date, I worked for the service in an international Company before coming to the US and I always had to be up to date with vaccines, I just lost the record and redid the ones I needed for the medical, so I would avoid to get two more shots just for the fun of it while driving around all day during the semester

@Jay-Kay

Thank you

I just took one of the Tdap last year and just one of the Hep A ( I was told later on I didn't need it) and did not follow it up with the second one ( didn't realize I needed another one) and I got my GC. I guess they just want to know if you started it.

you should be able to take the shots at school, urgent care or any doctor's office? You don't have to go to the health center? Are you at a University? Do you have insurance? Your University health center should be able to give them to you.

Do you have a Walgreens in your town? Some Walgreens have a take care health center and they should be able to administer your shots. I got mine there.

Hey, thank you, that makes me feel better about it, especially, that I know I have all those vaccines already either way, so healthwise I dont need them, I just lost my record and dont want to deal with getting that over 3 different doctors from my home country.

Well, the Health Department told me, when I got the first shot, that I need to get it at another Health department (My Medical was in a different town and even further away). My College has a doctor and a registered nurse and works together with the hospital in town, but the nurse also told me I'd have to go to the Health department for this, since they dont store these vaccines. And the CVS and Walgreens in town also couldnt help me... It is so frustrating

Also I was told that I would need to get another shot after 1 month and another one after 6 months and this could be a problem if I dont follow up with them.

Hey,

just a quick question since I only find conflicting information about it...

I had my medical about a month ago and got the Tdap vaccine... Now the problem is, it's already one month and probably 1 week after my first Tdap shot, so I should ve already gotten my second shot.

Since I am living further away from the next bigger town with a Texas Health department, I don't know what to do, I already drove there today for an hour and another hour back, just so they tell me, that their hours were wrong and I should have come in one hour earlier (Even the hours on the door begged to differ -.-)... And I really don't want to drive again during the week while I have my semester closing in on the finals...

So, simple question...

Are the follow-up vaccinations important to the USCIS? Or will they just grant the blanket waiver since I already got my one shot for the I-693 and don't care if I follow up on the vaccinations? Or could this lead to complications if you have an officer who wants to see the vaccination record?

Thank you in advance!