Cheryl-Hossein

Great! Thanks — that’s what I thought, but I’d rather it be correct the first time,,

My husband (naturalized US citizen) is filling up for I-130 for his sister in Iran. I know this will take 12-15+ years, pending removal of the travel ban.

QUESTION: Her passport is currently expired. Does she need to have a valid passport for question 47 & 50 (beneficiary’s entry info)? 
 

Thanks!

58 minutes ago, usmsbow said:

 

What do you mean by this question? By state congressman, do you mean state rep in the state government (like state asssembly(wo)man)? If so, then no, since state government has no role in immigration. If you mean the US senators for your state, then they can help you. Your congressman for your US congressional district can assist as well.

 

Some are more responsive than others. Unfortunately you can only ask for assistance for those that rep you... 

 

 

US Congressman.  They have special reps in their offices who only deal with USCIS and other immigration agencies.  My Congressman's office has been so helpful in monitoring the status of my husband's ROC.

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

We went through Ankara, Turkey.  If you look at my timeline, I documented our experiences.  I went with him and when they found out I made the trip, they asked me back the next day to be interviewed.  He ended up getting approved on the spot with no administrative processing.  However, the political climate has changed a bit since then (Jan 2014), so I'm not sure if any Iranian -- especially a man -- is going to have the easy experience we did.

We had a very smooth process.  Now we're waiting on my husband's 10-year greencard (Removal of Conditions), which we should receive in the next month or so.  He can also file for citizenship in a few months.  Feel free to hit me up whenever you have questions through the process.  I'm happy to pay it forward.

I saw that too.  CA went from late June/early July back to March -- how frustrating.  But at least he's here in the US and we're not waiting apart for this approval.

I looked at copies of our forms to check. If you have only lived in Iran, just fill out the first part.  We put "none" in the 2nd part for my then-fiancé.  Just to be sure, you need two G325a forms in in your package -- one for you and one for your fiancé. 

If I'm understanding you correctly, it seems you should put your address in Iran in both places. A lot of the information on the forms will be repetitive, so don't be worried. If you want to screenshot the exact question, I'll take a look at it. Which form are you filling out?

My husband is a Seyed. We did all his paperwork with "Seyed Mohammad" as his first name.  I think as long as you pick a way and stick with it throughout the process, you'll be fine.  I chose that way because all his documents from Iran listed the Seyed.

P.S. -- Feel free to contact me directly with any questions you have.  I'm happy to pay-it-forward.

Hossein's real full name is insanly long and often doesn't fit in the allowed space -- another reason he wants to change it.

Still trying to find out if there's anyway to have two legal names -- one in US and another in Iran.

Not sure if I understand all of this, but I think this would affect our spouses -- and maybe even us if we travel to Iran, Iraq or other MENA countries.

http://www.niacaction.org/dont-let-house-pass-discriminatory-visa-waiver-bill/

http://www.niacaction.org/dont-let-house-pass-discriminatory-visa-waiver-bill/

My husband really wants to legally change his name here in the US. That in and of itself is not an issue, as I understand the process in Caifornia. However, we're about 6 months out from sending in his ROC paperwork. So timing-wise, can we do his name change now and just present name change with the ROC paperwork? Or should we wait to do the name change when he applies for citizenship?

Secondly, he would prefer not to change his name back in Iran -- partly because of the red tape involved, if he can even do it. For those of you familiar with Iranian naming practices, only certain names are acceptable and must be approved. He also has the prefix "Seyed," which, as I understand it, is a birth right title meaning "of the prophet", and that's the part of his name he dislikes the most, but Iran won't let him drop that, even if he did a formal name change there.

Then, can he have one legal name in the US and one legal name in Iran? One scenario I thought about that could be sticky is travel between US and Iran and names on tickets vs passports.

I've tried to convince him that it's ok just to have an "AKA" and just use his Iranian name for legal purposes, but he still wants the name change if possible.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

My husband failed twice. Between the 2nd and 3rd attempt, I signed him up for a couple of hours behind the wheel with a driving instructor. I think it was around $50-75, if I remember correctly. It was extremely helpful. Each country has their own unique styles of driving. The instructor was able to give him gentle advice (and it's easier to take instructions from a stranger rather than someone you know and love).

He passed the third time without even a tick against him.

We were lucky....Hossein was one of the few iranian men I know of on this forum who did not have AP. I was with him in Ankara, they asked me to come back the day after his interview, so they could talk to me and then they approved him immediately. He had his visa a couple of days later.

He's been in the U.S. almost a year now and things are going well. He's a director/film editor and we live in Los Angeles. There is a large Persian population in the LA/Orange County area, so he's been making connections and doing projects within the community. Speaking, writing and reading Farsi have actually turned into an asset for him. He did a handful of Norooz videos for various community centers, worked on a persian television show, and will be directing a documentary next week with an iranian subject matter. We're working on getting a website together for him too, so he can market himself even more.

Like the others have said....meet in Istanbul, Dubai -- wherever you both can get visas to. Iranians don't need visas for Turkey and Americans can get them at the airport for $20-30 (I forget the exact price, but it was inexpensive).

It seems a little scary at this juncture, I know -- but it will all work out in time.

Yep, our friend married us and he's with Universal Life. USCIS doesn't care who marries you as long as you have a legit marriage certificate.

Rebtel if you want to call a landline or someone who doesn't have a smartphone (pennies per minute to talk most places around the globe); otherwise, use a free VOIP app like Viber, Tango, Google Talk, etc.

Search "Free to Air" satellites on eBay, Amazon or Alibaba. He'll need to get up on the roof and do the install, but you can get thousands of channels from all over the Middle East - sports, news, entertainment.

My husband and I went through the process last year. You can check out our timeline, but we went from initial I-129 to Green Card in about 14-15 months. It was all really painless. Feel free to private message me with any specific questions/concerns you might have. I did go to Ankara for his embassy interview, and when they found out I was there, they asked me to come back the next day to be interviewed. It turned out to be a good thing and he was approved on the spot. [i have an embassy review posted too.]

As far as communication and original documents, we did all original signatures on the documents. We didn't want to risk an RFE. Other than being rather expensive to send documents from Iran to US, it wasn't an issue as far as privacy. As far as your electronic communications, I'm assuming she has a VPN, or else accessing Facebook and other western sites would be nearly impossible. We had a "safe word" -- which meant things were getting too political or too "spicy" to talk about in text form.

Like you said, the situation with Iran is complicated politically, but unless you or she have a high-powered government job, it's really not going to be an issue.

Adjusting to Los Angeles is difficult even if you're an American. I moved more than a decade ago from New York, and it took a good year or more before I even began to feel comfortable in my skin. The highway/driving culture is one of the more difficult things, especially if you're used to having easy public transportation. [As an aside, public transpo in LA works fine, but it's an acquired skill too.] And I don't understand why the person yelled at you for queuing up behind them. That's how you do it in LA if the pumps are full.

Are you working? Some of the first (and best) friends I made here were through people I met on the job. What are your hobbies? Do you like film? Film festivals always need volunteers. Join a group on MeetUp or the like. My husband just started working a couple of weeks ago, and I know meeting people who aren't also my friends has been great for him. There's a million things to do in LA, but you have to get out of the house. The public library has all kinds of free classes and crafty things. Take a class at a community college.

Have your spouse walk you through it all....they're your best instructor.

EDIT: I just saw that you're actually in Ojai, but most of my advice still applies -- get out of the house and don't be scared.

It's mandatory for US Citizens to have health care insurance (or pay the penalty). The rule about no government benefits only applies to the immigrant, not the US Citizen. That being said, with a quick search, it seems LPRs and Greencard holders must also have health insurance and can be covered under the Affordable Care Act.

Check out this link:

http://www.visitorscoverage.com/obamacare-for-green-card-holders/

Are you in LA or MA? Despite popular misconceptions, getting around Los Angeles via public transportation is do-able. My husband and I only have one car between us, so we have to switch off on taking public transportation depending on our schedules. Go to Metro.net and it will give you point-to-point directions. Sometimes you might have to allow an extra 15-20 minutes, but I find if I can take the Express Bus home, I actually get home quicker than if I drove my car.

I'm a California Notary. All the advice they gave you is solid.

Just wanted to provide a little clarification for you. A JURAT or AFFIDAVIT is the same thing as an OATH. So when a notary does a Jurat, not only do they watch you sign the document and stamp it with their seal, they also give you a brief oath where you swear that what it says in the attached document is the truth under penalty of the law.

Also, remind your friends to take ID with them when they go to the Notary.

Assuming you're in California, you can report a lawyer to the Bar with this link:

http://calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/LawyerRegulation/FilingaComplaint.aspx

Check out that local community colleges in your area. My husband has been going to ESL classes twice a week for 4-5 months now. It really helps -- and, at least in California, they're free. He took an assessment test and they placed him where he needs to be. We also found some free ESL classes through the library system, but the college ended up being much closer to our home.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the AOS paperwork was much simpler and less subjective than the K-1 package.