JnRMo

My wife just got her DC driver's license a few weeks back - the expiration date seems incredibly arbitrary - About 16 months from issue, but prior to when we can even file for removal of conditions. Was curious if this is common - as I can foresee it being a problem when the time comes to renew it and her conditions have not yet been removed.

Local reddit communities are usually pretty good sources of info for the area, I've seen a lot of job-related inquiries/offers in my area. Usually not too many trolls on those areas as compared to other parts of reddit.

I've gone to a secondary inspection (or whatever you want to call being pulled aside) for customs three times in the past few years (twice in the U.S., once in the UK) - it's nothing to worry about usually as long as you do what you're supposed to. Just declare anything you might be bringing that might potentially forbidden/controlled (food/agricultural products for the most part). I had something confiscated once for BSE risk, but I had declared it so no fines or anything.

Are there lines at the Romanian embassy? If not, she probably won't have to wait long.

Everything I ate before attending my wife's interview ended up in the consular section's toilet... yeah...

I printed a bit more photos than that, quite a few to a page. They didn't ask to see them, or anything for that matter.

We had sent something like 200k facebook messages to each other, which has trouble loading well - I just took a screenshot on my slow work computer of it showing the number of messages we had sent when it lagged trying to view older messages.

Do you skype at all? There are skype history programs that can export your skype history fairly easily.

You would go through the "US Citizens" line and your fiancée will go through the "Non-Citizens" line. You should arrange to meet after she goes through immigration processing, maybe at luggage claim/recheck (if you have a connecting flight you'll have to claim your luggage and then re-check it to go on through the system to your end destination.) I would allow at least 2 hours on the connecting flight time, just to make sure you've got enough time to make your connection. If it goes fast, you can wander around. If it seems like you'll miss your flight because of immigration processing, you can always go to the airline counter and alert them that you'll need to re-book.

Is this accurate everywhere? When I went through immigration a week ago there were the standard US Citizens/Non-Citizens line... but then at the far end of the US Citizens counters there was an immigrant visa line that was completely empty. Seems like it would be quicker to just get in the line moving faster and get redirected over there.

I thought by statute, appealing the decision on an AWA waiver request was not even an option.

It sounds like it's an impossible standard to reach based on that denial. The psychiatrist compares him to the typical male - I'm not really sure asking for more is feasible. Chemical castration?

If you go with resumes, business cards, etc, you may run into trouble at immigration if they question why you're going.

Latvia? What embassy was it for you???

Well i am using a co-sponsor so now im worried ill neeed her birth certificate.............nobody has told me that and i never read that i needed one.

i have a passport that ive got since 2008 and my first US travel ever was in 2009, so ive got all the US visas in this one passport (3 overall, 2 student ones - exchange student, and 1 tourist one).

U.S. Embassy in Riga - I imagine things will be slightly different for you, but I I would think the policies and practices are comparable. I would bring those past passports with you to the interview just in case.

You could wait until you get your interview letter to determine what they'll really need. Check out: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-864instr.pdf for documents required for the joint sponsor - if it's not listed in the requirements for NVC, I don't think they'll suddenly require you to have it for the interview, unless it's listed on the letter.

We just had our interview in Latvia(I am petitioner, attended for my wife's interview). On our interview form the "Petitioner's Original Birth Certificate" was marked as not asked for by NVC. We brought it just in case - they never asked for it, or really anything else for that matter.

As far as the employment letter, it looks fine. Ideally it would be on company letterhead, which I can't tell from your picture, but I doubt it's an issue if it's not.

I feel like being prepared for your interview beyond the minimum they ask for sounds like being over-prepared (but still good to do). Since my wife encountered some issues with her U.S. travel and had had a new passport since then, they asked if she had that passport, and asked for it just to double-check that she never overstayed, so if you have one with U.S. travel you may want to bring it just in case. If you check my post history you can probably find the post I did of all the questions they asked.

If you are able, I would try to schedule a day free from work/school/anything after your interview. After we were approved we had this surreal, what the heck do we do now, and super lazy feeling as all the worrying for months washed away.

My wife had her Visa Interview this morning and was approved. We were worried for the longest time, because though her mom is a U.S. Citizen and she has been traveling there regularly over the past 10+ years, she did run into some issues during her most recent visits. She had worked illegally one summer for a few weeks while visiting, and a few years later had continued that job while visiting her mom for an extended time. She also pushed the tourist visa stay to the max while visiting her mom twice in a row (which is when we met).

She was also worried about possible false statements to immigration officers at POEs - but couldn't remember what she said or what was said to her. In the end, they had her voluntarily give up her passport on her last attempt to enter, after we had been dating for nearly 6 months.

So we had a few red flags - but we were as forthcoming with the immigration process as possible regarding her past transgressions, but in the end, none of them were viewed as material (I suppose as her working was not the primary reason for her being in the country, and they either had no record of what she said to the immigration officers when she thinks she may have possibly lied - who really knows. I also feel my attending the interview probably went a long way.

Questions involved:

• Is that your fiance (which she corrected, that I was her husband - this calling me a fiance would go on, not sure if they were trying to trip her up
• Where did you get married?
• What do you do for work?
• What does your husband do for work?
• Where/When did you meet?
• What was the timeline of your meeting (asked how long after meeting online did we meet in person, then realized while we met online, we lived a few metro stops away from each other, and met nearly right away, then stopped this line of questioning)
• Asked about what her past work in the U.S.
• Asked if she paid taxes
• Asked where she worked while in the U.S.
• Asked if she knew she wasn't supposed to work in the U.S.
• Asked why she worked in the U.S.
• Asked if the business knew she was not allowed to work (Trying to see if she claimed to be a U.S citizen I assume, they never asked her to give any info on this besides her SSN, which she had had for years)
• What do you plan to do/where do you plan to live in the U.S.?
• Who's idea was it to go to U.S.
• Have you previously adjusted status? (She answered yes, though started talking about an I130 her mom had started on her and they seemed to get she wasn't sure what she was answering)
• What happened to the I130 (she wasn't sure)
• Will you be married within the 90 days? (Again, confirmed we were already married)
• Asked where we got married

The Latvian Foreign Service National at the desk at the beginning also asked to see her old passports, when she was initially questioned regarding her earlier surrendered visa and possible overstaying (which she hadn't, and had no dates marked in her passport indicating when she had to leave the U.S. upon previous entries. They didn't ask to see any additional information that we had brought other than her old passport to verify dates.

It should be 8 then? Him, his wife, 2 kids, you, your wife, 2 dependents? Since I believe he has to show the capacity to sponsor his family and yours (but I could be wrong).

You're probably in the same boat as me, where the volume of immigration petitions in your country is too low to really get a good sense of how long it will take. The most recent one for nepal took 59 days from case complete to interview: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtbvTEwLyHz1dEhlZjdKczRMRmJrSnc5MTk1SkVrYVE&usp=sharing#gid=0

It shouldn't matter I would think, keeping your own last name isn't uncommon in the states. If it's something that keeps you up worrying at night just take his name and change it back after all the immigration nonsense is done.

My wife and I are trying to collect all the supporting documents to file for the I-130 for her permanent residency. She is a Canadian citizen, but she was born and raised in Russia. I'm assuming we need a notarized and translated copy of her birth certificate, but on the birth certificate her mother's married last name is used. For the marriage license we had to put her mother's maiden last name. Will it be an issue if the mother's last names don't match on the documents? I've noticed that some marriage licenses don't even have the parents names on them. We are worried about having to dig up several documents to prove her mother's change of name at marriage on top of the birth certificate, which can get very expensive for her Russian family. All these records are in Russia, so our ability to track them down is limited. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My wife's mom remarried and her name differed from the birth certificate name. It did not appear to be questioned. I think you'll be ok.

There is no solution, well not with the US Political system.

Let's just hope the Republicans keep losing elections and decide to get their together on immigration.

Hi all, my husband and I received a checklist from NVC which we sent back last week. We were informed 20-30 business days for review but are wondering if anyone has any experience with this being faster? We've been in the NVC stage since April and it feels like it will never end. Thanks!

I'm in the same boat, sent mine in 6/19, wasn't scanned until 6/30. They continue to quote the 30 business days to me, but hoping it comes in soon. Really annoyed because everything else is fine now, and it was a stupid 'mistake' on my part to follow the form instructions.

Thank you !!!

We just went to our interview a week ago but its not over... We still need to file a waiver....( its getting sent this week by our attorney) The waivers have been getting processed much faster these days. Hopefully only another 4 months to wait.. Last year they were being processed at around 8 months... We are hoping to be together by Christmas.... Cross your fingers for me.

Who is your lawyer and how do you like them so far? What was the turnaround time between hiring them and having your waiver prepared?

No. Will have to wait 5 years.

You mean 5 years rather than the 3 right?

Services for domestic violence can vary a lot by location - it may take some searching. There are probably some shelters in the area, you may be able to find pro bono legal support (check with immigrant/domestic violence nonprofits in the area, law schools, or directly with lawyers if you can find any that do pro bono work). Unfortunately, while often considered domestic violence, a lot of things short of physical violence don't seem all that easy to handle through the legal system.

Go to a different office, this one is clearly too incompetent - if none nearby, find out who the supervisor's supervisor is.

I enjoy your humor.

'Murica

$30k seems pretty low for an accountant - especially in a major city. Nonprofits will generally pay lower than companies - but should generally be expected to have better benefits. 20 days vacation is pretty good in the U.S. - assuming you also get sick leave. Not sure how good your other benefits are.

You could try to negotiate, or you could work there for 6+ months and then start looking elsewhere.

Her employer took her passport, likely as a means of control - she may be eligible for some sort of trafficking victim support.

You may want to consider contacting: http://casademaryland.org/ - I believe they offer some support for immigrant workers who have had their rights violated by employers.

What does Vietnam have to do with co-sponsor? Your brother or sister can sponsor you. They will fill out an i-864 form just like you.

He's phrasing it a bit poorly - it's not Vietnam, but the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam that will not accept co-sponsors on a K1 visa (if that is still in place). There are a few places like that, for whatever reason.