Teya

Would it be possible to add your name to the rental agreement after you receive your green card or EAD? As far as ROC goes, I doubt that a few months of not being on the rental agreement after being married will make a difference especially if you have other compelling evidence of mixing your finances, etc.

That is what I'm currently considering, the only catch is that if I get an interview for the AOS I'll need evidence of bona fide marriage and my name on the lease would be one more score for me. I guess, I'll have to find other ways to merge our finances so that the AOS would get approved without it.

Thank you everyone!

Did you ask if you can apply for a permit, rather than a license, and whether you can drive unsupervised on it because you have a current foreign licence that states you have passed a test?

There is a recent question of this same issue - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/449841-temporary-driver-license-in-ca/ Hope it helps!

Hi,

Thanks for this link! Unfortunately it won't apply in my situation because it would only give me a permit for two months from now if I did that today, if I do it Sunday I won't be able to apply because of the 60 day rule and I can't get an appointment for such short a notice. Thanks, though!

But did you tell them that you are not allowed to drive according to the state? That might change a few things. Usually, insurance automaically covers other people driving the car on a temporary basis if they're licensed. Whether you're actually considered licensed for driving in your state is the question.

I don't see anything here that says the NOA1 serves any of the documentation requirements.

Why do you assume I'm not allowed to drive according to the state? I am, because I'm not a resident and I have a valid foreign driving license. Not a permit but an actual license. I did tell the insurance company that the license is foreign, so they are well aware of that.

CA law clearly states:

"If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents."

At this point I'm not a resident because I haven't done anything to establish my residency, literally the only thing I did in California was got added to my husband's bank account, which does not make me a resident. 10 days after I do establish residency is the time I won't be able to drive because I won't be able to use my Lithuanian license as valid and will have to wait for the EAD which makes many things a pain...

My wife came to the US on a K1 visa, we got married and about ready to apply for AOS .... but we don't have a SSN number for her and she's not on my bank accounts or lease. Will this be a problem for the AOS? ... proof of being married and living with one another.

Also sucks because she cant go get her drivers license.

Reason why we don't have a SSN is below;

Late August we applied for a SSC in Michigan , they said it could take up to for weeks.

September we got married.

Called the social security people on a status and they said they need to send some more paper work and everything is good

Government shutdown .... I called the SS people again and they said because of the government shut down they wont be able to see anything ... call back after the shutdown.

after the government shutdown .... called again and they said they didn't see the file anywhere! we need to come back and file again.

Oct 17th Went back again and the lady said we need to do everything through the IRS for her to be on my bank accounts and so on .... I said ok but please lets try getting her a SSN not authorized to work ... due to her being on a K1 visa. The lady did everything again and said she needed to send USCIS her information and this can take up to 4 weeks.

October 30th ... today I received a letter saying;

" Due to the government shutdown, we are not able to continue processing the application. Please contact USCIS to update the status. Your admission date stamp is too near the expiration date. System is kicking out "

Her K1 expires November 14th

I've been waiting for her to have a SSN number so I can add her to my bank accounts , lease ... and so on before we apply for AOS.

Hi,

Congrats on your marriage! Do not worry too much, you do not need to have a SSN to add her to your bank accounts or lease you can use herA number for that. This is what I did. Also you do not need to supply all these documents (proof of bona fide marriage) for the AOS, you're just suppossed to have them for the interview (if they decide to have one). As for SSN I'm not an expert, but I'd wait for the EAD to arrive and then would go to get the SSN.

However, we should wait to hear more opinions in case I'm missing something.

In Colorado when you get the letter that you are AOS you can use that to obtain your drivers licence. It means you are legally here in the US.

I wish this was true for California, but they will only issue you a licence for a period while you are here legally. Once you apply for the AOS the DMV has no idea of whether you'll be approved or denied and when the USCIS will decide. Since there is no date they can get you the licence for, they just don't I wonder how they go around this issue in Colorado, though. How long is the licence valid for then?

in WA you can get a driver's licence but do the whole procedure as if you are applying one for the first time unless you are from South Korea or Germany.

Now this is interesting, and what if you are from South Korea or Germany?

Agreed. However, the license will only be valid as long as the EAD is. Additionally, the DMV will require a SSN with the name matching your EAD. My wife until she got her GC to get her license (the EAD/AP card arrived the day before our GC interview). The EAD or GC will be needed to shoe you are a legal permanent resident.

Yeah, name matching is not an issue and this is exactly why I did not change my name after marriage to avoid things like that. Thanks for the info!

If you are driving a rental car that does not have you or your spouse listed on the insurance than you can be liable for the damage if there was accident, insurance will not cover it.

Insurance will only cover the person and their spouse whose name is on the insurance card.

As far as that goes, the car is not rental and after double checking with the insurance company a couple hours ago they confirmed that while on K1 and being married (apparently that is important) even though the car does not have neither mine nor my husband's name on the insurance car I would not be liable for the damage done. But thanks for raising this issue, it's a good thing to know these things, they are insurance company and maybe even state specific.

Hey there

This is really simple...apply for your EAD and when you get it, use it to get your CA drivers license.

I did apply for my EAD together with the AOS, however, it should arrive in the mail right before New Year and I'm thining of what to do till then. For now I can use my Lithuanian licence as I'm not a resident, but in 2 weeks I'll become one by renting a place and putting my name on the lease, so the question is more like is there anything I could do between becoming a resident and getting the EAD which is a good couple months if I'm lucky.

Actually the clock for his resident tuition started the day he starting living in the state. ( the day he arrived )

My husband just made a good point. Think about it, if I enter the US in NYC and then fly to Washington and then to CA. My first point of entry is NY but that does not make me the resident of that or any other of the three states, because entering the country is a federal thing and not specific to any state.

This law is specifically based on getting benefits or voting (which obviously I cannot do at the moment), getting into a country is not a benefit, geting K1 approved is but is not state specific.

We went on the road trip for our honeymoon recently and the person whose car I was driving called the insurance company to ask if it would be okay if I was driving (I have a foreign valid licence and obviously my name was not on the insurance), they confirmed that it is fine.

Once you married and moved in with your spouse you need to be on the insurance for the car and to have a California drivers lic. If you get pulled over without both you will get ticketed and the insurance company will either cancel you or seriously raise your rates. Leave the driving until after AOS although I don't remember having that issue when we went for a licence.

Hey,

Sorry but this raises more issues than it answers for me. I am married and living in CA with my husband, none of us are residents, however, we are driving a car that is registered in my father-in-law's name and insured by him. Is it a problem right now or will become an issue once I'm a resident?

From what I read on the other forums however, I'll be able to get a driving licence once I show them the EAD, so hopefully that's going to solve the problem.

ya, sorry, it's a catch-22 for folk adjusting status from a K-1 visa.

However, AOS not require such big proof of comingling finances, like the ROC set requires.

Bear that in mind as you're making plans on what to do.

Yeah, at this point it does not require anything it's only if we are invited to the interview that we will need to bring all of that evidence, and judging from the timelines we will as everyone going through San Jose have to.

Anyway, what would you suggest doing? I guess getting all of those documents now would be the best way so that I could show the CONTINUOUS comingling once I need to go through ROC right?

As you can see I went through the K1 route and am right now married, waiting for the AOS to be processed. However, there seems to be one issue with getting a local driver's licence. I have a Lithuanian licence that is valid for nearly ten years and California DMV states that as long as I'm not a resident I'm able to use it legally. However, I have filled for AOS and as part of showing that our marriage is real I should get my name on the rental property contracts to show the mingling of our finances. If I do that, and once I pay the first utility bill, I become a resident, which means I have ten days to get a Californian driving licence, which will not be issued to me as I will not have any document to show that I'm here legally and till when.

Anyone else has encounetered the same issue in California recently?

The way around it would be not to put my name when renting a place, but then I would have to make sure I don't become a resident in some other way by using some other 'privelege' (like paying bills are apparently priveleges), and I would have to also find a way to proof to USCIS that our finances are not seperate.

Any ideas anyone?

Teya

Hey everyone,

On the 23rd I sent my AOS documents to Chicago using the post office. Since this includes plenty of documents, I registered the packet so that I could track it. The problem is that when I try looking it up, it shows the below:

October 30, 2013 , 9:41 am

Available for Pickup

CHICAGO, IL 60699

October 30, 2013 , 4:16 am

Processed through USPS Sort Facility

CHICAGO, IL 60699

October 29, 2013 , 9:39 am

Out for Delivery

CHICAGO, IL 60699

October 29, 2013 , 9:29 am

Sorting Complete

CHICAGO, IL 60699

October 29, 2013 , 8:25 am

Arrival at Unit

CHICAGO, IL 60699

October 23, 2013

Depart USPS Sort Facility

GOLETA, CA 93199

October 23, 2013 , 6:26 pm

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

GOLETA, CA 93199

Yes, you are the petitioner now and you can use your mother-in-law for the I-864 instead of the person on the I-364.

So if I get this right for the form I-134 the sponsor had to be my fiance without any exceptions. That's for the K1, but for the AOS and the form I-864 the sponsor can be anyone, my husband does not need to file anything, right?

Hello,

I arrived to the US a month and a half ago, have gotten married and am filing for AOS. This seems a little unclear so I was hoping you would be able to help me.

1. Who is the petitioner in this case? (filing for k1 (I-129f) the petitioner was my at the time fiance) am I the petioner now?

2. Affidavit of support. My husband does not reach the treshold to sponsor me, we had a joint sponsor for k-1. Should he still be filing the documents for this, or can I have one sponsor, my mother-in-law?

Thank you for your help!

Teya

Hi,

Well I don't know about the consulate in Paris, but in Vilnius when I got the packet 3 there were instructions in there saying that it is impossible to get the certificates from some countries and that a complete list of these countries can be found here http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciprocity/reciprocity_3272.html

Now I see that the link is no longer working, but maybe if you dig around you'll be able to find some useful info.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Teya

I come from a country where people have to give up their citizendhips in order to get a US citizenship. Some of them don't do it and stay LPRs. I know more than one person living in Europe and travelling to the US every year just to maintain the LPR status. So your wife could do the same for now.

And here is a different idea: what if she files for the citizenship after you return. I know she can do it after 3 years but it does not mean she has to! This way you could ensure you are meeting all of the requirements before you do it and in the meantime she only needs to maintain her LPR status and you can enjoy your new job, gain new experience.

I got a NOA2 on 14th of June. My fiance called NVC a couple hours ago and we got our case number. NVC also advised that they got the case yesterday. I was approved at CSC

Hey, I really hope it's gonna be that quick as my NOA2 is dated the 14th of June. If you get any updates, please share

Hello,

I got the NOA2 on 06/14 and my case should be either on the way or in NVC. From what I've read I should be calling them to find out the case number. The question is: once I have the number do I schedule the interview or does NVC do it? Or is that country specific? If NVC does it then the case number is necessary for checking the status only? Thanks!

Also, what about all of the medical stuff does all of it need to be done right before the interview including the vaccinations or does that depend on the embassy or something?

Oh cool then.

What is the long form of the birth certificate? What kind of info would it have compared to the regular one?

I'll get a police check from Lithuania in a few days time. Do you know if I might need one from the UK if I'm going there quite often on business trips. One of them took nearly 2 months?

Hey dear VJers!

I'm a February filler at CSC and as hopefully my time for the NOA2 is coming closer and closer I want to ask for your help regarding what awaits us next. I myself am a beneficiery, the USC has been living outside of US for years and haven't filled for taxes in that time. We are going to have a co-sponsor my future mother-in-law but he is going to need to file to be a sponsor as well and will need to supply some documents. I know that all of you supply tax returns but in this case my fiancé could supply only tax returns from Europe (where we live) but in any case that should not count as this will not continue once we move. He does have a contract for some jobs he is doing in the US but that started only in 2013 so once again not relevant in this case.

Another thing while awaiting for NOA2s are you starting to work on the next steps? I don't know getting some paperwork done, medical, shots something?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Teya