ctjwa

Hi,

we filed our I-751 Form, got my biometrics taken and received a letter that my green card is extended for one more year. The original expiration date is at the end of January. I am going to leave the country for Christmas for two weeks and then again after my green card expires. If I bring the letter that states my green card is extended for one year, is that enough proof so I won't get in trouble at the customs to re-enter the USA?

Thanks for your help!!!

P.S. By the way, since you're also filing at the VSC for the I-751, you can add your name and information to the following message thread list: "VSC I-751 Status List" (look for the last updated list on the last page), so you can see your own progress and help all VJers on this same long wait too. Thank you.: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=110056

THanks for all your help. Do I need to include pictures too?

Hi all,

I am about to file my I-751, but I was wondering what I have to include with the I-751 Form besides the form, a cover letter and evidence of our marriage? Please help, since my green card expires soon and I need to file it asap. The instructions on the uscis.gov website are not clear at all !

Thanks,

Joana and James

I think the biggest question she had was whether to choose american name rules or german name rules. There were no directions on what the differences are, so how are you supposed to make this choice?

Long time no hear. How are you doing? Hope Joana feels like home now...

Hi Evi! You're right, it has been too long. Joana is doing well. She just finished her first year of school, and is playing on the tennis team, might even get a scholarship next year. Hope all is going well for you too, and it looks like it is from the baby pics. Very cute!

Thanks for the link to the embassy site. I know she has been talking with them for a while now, but it's so hard to iron out the details with them. Did you know they are only open for 3 hours per day from 9-12?? I'd love to have those hours. I will have her look at the site you sent

Guten Morgen!

I had a quick question that hopefully someone else has experience with here. My wife is from Germany, came over on a K1, and we are now married. She took my last name, and moved her maiden name to be her middle name. This appears on her green card, driver's license, and social security card. We need to change her name on her German Passport, and it is causing trouble/confusion.

Does anyone know exactly how this is done? What papers need to be filled out, proof needs to be included, and where it needs to be sent or where she/we need to go? We live in Rhode Island, and she has been talking to people in the German Consulate in Boston, but they are only open for like 3 hours per day and are less than helpful.

If anybody has any experience doing this, we would be very greatful for your ! Danke.

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention -- The CO took her AP papers and EAD Card from her at the interview, and gave her a stamp in her passport that would function as the same thing. He said they usually don't do that, but since we already applied for the EAD and AP he'd give the stamp. We all agreed that it would be a moot point since she was approved and the Green Card would be coming in 2 weeks, but I would have been very hesitant to leave without either the stamp or the papers just in case something came up.

Thanks for all of the kind wishes, and I appreciate all of the VJ help along the way.

I don't think it was discrimination.

She used the wrong word, give her a break, I'd like to see you explain it in Chinese.

Wong, I will say one thing. I think you are letting other people's words influence you too much. Nobody should be able to affect your emotions in such a strong way by simply stating their opinions. In this case, the man was ignorant about the Chinese society and many other things. What a wonderful opportunity for you to shed some light on a subject you know about first hand. Don't let him feed off your anger, instead state the facts that you know in a calm and assertive way - many people are flocking from the countryside to work at those "low paying slave labor" jobs, because they actually afford better livings than farming. The government is deregulating so much in the past few years to allow industrialization, publicly run companies, and foreign investment. China is on the rise, has an enormous population, and is experiencing huge economic growth. Soon they will be a legitimate force in the world's economy.

Don't let one idiot ruin your day, because let me be first to break the bad news to you - there are a lot of idiots out there in the world! 50% of people are by definition dumber than average, and nothing against tattoo artists, but they aren't necessarily known for their civil discourse.

You sound like a smart and successful woman who runs her own business. Take that confidence with you everywhere, as if you're the shop owner in every situation. Once you realize you can stand up for yourself, and not be sucked into an idiot's fight, you will feel even better than if your husband had stuck up for you more. There's a saying that goes something like, "It's not wise to argue with an idiot, because from afar people can't tell who is who." Take people's opinions, evaluate the statement's worth objectively, and then react accordingly.

Good luck, you will do just fine.

Oh, one other thing:

Our RFE was because they wanted a translated birth certificate. This was suprising because it's not something that is asked for in the AOS papers, since identity was already establised with the K1 papers. We submitted it anyway, and got the interview. I questioned this, and he said that all of the initial reviews of applications are pretty much contracted out to drones who just check items off a list and assemble your official folder. I guess since the K1 documents were there (obviously, because they were submitted months earlier) they RFE'd it. So my advice there, is just to send in anything you think might be necessary, and they'll shred anything that's extra.

Happy to report a successful interview, and relieved that all of the waiting and paperwork is finally behind us.

The interview went smoothly. It was only 15 minutes later than our scheduled appointment time, and probably only took 20 minutes or so total.

A few things of note:

He wouldn't let us change Joana's middle name to be her maiden name. I'm not sure why this is, but he said we had to "legally change it" and have a paper from city hall or something. Her social security card, state driver's license, and application were all put in her "new" married name, but he only would let her take my last name, not add her maiden name as her middle name. Odd, but in the grand scheme of things no big deal really. He said we could bring in the city hall paperwork at the 2 year lifting of conditions interview, and take care of it then.

He was able to tell us that we she had passed FBI name check already, and said that he wouldnt have even gotten the case file if she hadn't passed yet. That's contrary to what most people say on here, so I'm not sure what that's all about. He did say that it is highly dependant on the country of origin. I guess Germany isn't considered a high risk, and her name "wasn't Hussein, Castro, or Bin Ladin", he might have been joking but that's a direct quote! He also said that if you have any convictions, lots of kids, or a really complicated application that it might slow it down.

He asked for some proof of our relationship, and we had our wedding album which he flipped through. We don't have joint checking accounts, a lease, or anything else financial really (I personally don't think that should be a requirement, or their business) so he had to settle for both of our health insurance cards having the same account number. If we had been more suspicious, that might not have been enough, but it got us through the sniff test.

Our file was actually missing the entire K1 application packet, and he was a little annoyed that it wasn't in there, but it wasn't our fault. He also asked us for the medical packet, which she had obviously given away at the PoE. It seems that was gone forever too. None of this is surprising because as we were walking back to his office, there were TONS and TONS of manila files filled with people's cases. Literally walls and walls lined with files pretty much out in the open. I couldn't imagine working in a situation like that, and I cannot believe that hasn't been transferred to electronic documents only by now. It should be priority #1 to make that completely paper free in the next 10 years. Anyway, I actually had spare copies of all our application papers with me for the interview, and he seemed pretty impressed. He also was surprised that we had filled out all the papers ourselves, I guess us VJ'ers aren't the majority, and a lot of people use a lawyer! That made me feel pretty good, and all of you guys should too. Go us!

At the end he said we were approved, and the card should be here within 2 weeks. Pretty easy!

It's been stated on the boards (but I don't believe we have seen actual policy) that beginnning Jan. 1 there will be no interview until FBI security clearance is complete. It will take reports from people such as yourself for us to see if this is true.

That Jan 1st date may be referring to the NOA1 date, which for most of us is substantially far removed from Jan 1st. I wouldn't expect to see any changes for a while.

As far as the letter, you can see from my timeline that we didn't get our interview letter until a month after being approved for AP and EAD, and only a month before the actual interview date...which happens to be tommorrow!

My husband has been here in the U.S. as my dependent since May 2006. He has not been employed at all during this time. How am I supposed to file? Thanks for any help.

I'm not a tax professional, but assuming he has a social security number already, and you don't have anything but ordinary income from your job, it sounds like it is a simple case of filing jointly. Should get a little bit of a break since you will be able to claim 2 personal exemptions instaid of 1. If you own your own home, pay for college tuition, or anything else that might get you a deduction it's worth talking to somebody who can either help you or do your taxes for you. The cost will be negated by your increased refund.

I sent copies of absolutely everything, including the forms I had to fill out. NOTHING was original. You can try to call somewhere to ask for them back, but I'd say chances of that are slim. Better off spending your energy trying to get new versions of anything you lost from their original sources.

Oh, she doesn't have a passport.

Huh?!? Unless she flew over here in a box, she has a passport.

I think it is the general consensus of the board that mailing in preemptive RFE information is more apt to get lost or confused. I would hold off until they figure out they need the extra picture. You might get lucky and they'll just push it through with the other pic since it's part of the AOS.

Unfortunately, it seems you have stumbled into the final stages of a poorly thought out plan.

As it stands now, whether you file the marriage license to make it legal or not, if your wife leaves in January you'll be starting over. The only question is whether you'll be starting the K1 over (because you didn't legally get married, and the old K1 expired) or filing a K3 because you are already married. Whichever you chose, complications are bound to arise, and I would recommend getting a lawyer.

In all honesty, your best bet is to make the marraige legal and keep your new wife in the country until AP can be obtained. This will most likely take 2-3 months from the day you file if you're lucky and don't get an RFE. That means she'd be able to leave in Feb/March. Of course, this all depends on if she is flexible in her travel, or MUST leave.

In the absense of that possiblity, I hear that the K3 is usually a quicker method, though I have no experience in that realm.

Either way, I wish you luck.

We did not get Marlene's additional vaccinations from the civil surgeon. We got them elsewhere and just took the form from the medical exam in Manila and the record of the additional vaccinations to the civil surgeon. They charged us $25 to complete the vaccination supplement.

They just want money, any way possible. Of course, they will get the most if they give you a full exam, the shots, and fill out the paper. But they will still get a "paperwork fee" from you for just writing down the info.

Chances are very high you will have to pay that fee, even if you have all of your shots.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that insurance will not cover many of the vaccinations because they were supposed to have been administered during childhood.

I got this, the updated date was 11/18/06, but not sure exactly what it means:

Current Status: Response to request for evidence received, and case processing has resumed.

On October 13, 2006, we received your response to our request for evidence. We will notify you by mail when we make a decision or if we need something from you. If you move while this case is pending, call customer service. You should expect to receive a written decision or written update within 60 days of the date we received your response unless fingerprint processing or an interview are standard parts of case processing and have not yet been completed, in which case you can use our processing dates to estimate when this case will be done. This case is at our MISSOURI SERVICE CENTER location. Follow the link below to check processing dates. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

That's the first I've heard of it being at MSC. Is that a transfer message? Does this mean we won't have to go for an interview since it went to MSC instaid of the local providence office? Also, I don't see MSC listed on the list of service centers where you can check the dates they are processing! So confusing....

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Habe da mal ne Frage, wo kann man die deutsche Geburtsurkunde ins Englische uebersetzen lassen, irgendwelche Ratschlaege? Ich bin schon in den Staaten und die sind gerade dabei mein Status zu aendern, aber die verlangen eine ins Englisch uebersetzte Geburtsurkunde, ice ich leider nicht dabei gelegt habe. Danke!!!

Where do you look to find out what dates are currently being processed for AOS? MSC doesnt appear to be an option, nor does anything related to the chicago lockbox.

anybody?

You can track it the same way you did the 129 on the uscis.gov website, by inputting the case number you get off the NOA1. As for speeding the process, I think you're out of luck.

As a related question, where do you look to find out what dates are currently being processed for AOS? MSC doesnt appear to be an option, nor does anything related to the chicago lockbox.

Our AOS/EAD/AP were recieved june 30th 2006, NOA1 was sent a week later, and biometrics was scheduled and completed shortly afterwards. It seems to be progressing quickly, but I don't want to get my hopes up for a speedy interview appointment. Any insight?

I don't really know how to say this without coming off sounding like a jerk, but since 9 months is shorter than a year, no you do not need it.

I don't think it disqualifies them, but they might have a hard time getting one if the gov knows they are going over to visit their fiance - which means they are much more likely to stay.

My fiance did not get an EAD stap at JFK when she flew in on April 1st of this year. She didn't expressly ask for it, but none was ever mentioned and it wasn't automatic.

I would say that if money isn't a huge deal, or you don't absolutely need to work for the first 2-3 months that you are here, don't bother. Fly in wherever it's cheapest and easiest, then apply for EAD after you're married.