saraandiffy

Just wondering if you know whether or not it is legal to drive in Washington with a European driver's license? My husband is anxious to be driving and wants to practice before taking the test. I'm wondering what you did to prepare for the driving part of the test?

It is legal for up to one year to drive with a European drivers license. I have a UK driving license and a WA driving license. I did ask all these questions and more when I went to the license place.

Thanks for that information - we didn't realize it was legal for him to use his European license as a Washington resident. We thought it was only legal if you were here visiting.

I move to Olympia on September the 1st and I will have to do that too, i don't have a driver's license either :-/

How much is it?

Check out this website - I know there is a section that goes over fees, etc.

http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/gettingalicense.html

I passed my test in Vancouver, WA. I showed my UK passport, UK license my SSN and a marriage certificate as I recall. I went in the morning, and sat the computer test, and passed 100%. They then asked if I would like to come back that afternoon for my drive. Its a short drive, and took around ten minutes.

I totally recommend www.driversed.com to help with learning the theory part, I found that really useful in helping me prepare for the written test.

Good luck!

Just wondering if you know whether or not it is legal to drive in Washington with a European driver's license? My husband is anxious to be driving and wants to practice before taking the test. I'm wondering what you did to prepare for the driving part of the test?

Thanks!

We did the exact same thing - brought photocopies of the cards with the same account number and showed our originals to her during the interview.

Congratulations on your approval!! Don't worry too much - we went through exactly what you are going through now. My husband and I were interviewed in Seattle on July 28th and we were approved. See my timeline below for exact dates but basically we received the welcome letter one week after the interview and the card came 10 days after the welcome letter. Our online status never changed and still, today, says that it was last touched on July 5th. I was so worried when I didn't see our online status change but everything was sent as the officer said it was and I'm sure it will be the same for you. Congratulations!

We too were approved quickly and we kept thinking something was wrong or some mistake had been made. Just take time to celebrate! I think this whole process causes such a roller coaster of emotions that even after approval, its hard to enjoy the excitement!! Congratulations

J9Melihi,

Your 2003 and 2004 tax information is not required. You can include it if it will make your financial situation look better - and if you need to make your financial situation look better. Otherwise it's not much of an excuse for delay.

Yodrak

My husband went of of F-1 status 2 weeks ago and he is worried that the INS will come pick him up out of our house one night. Does anyone know about that? Can they just come pick you up if you haven't done anything except go out-of-status? I was out of status in Germany for a month and nothing ever happened. But I know things have tightened her in the USA, so now we are all worried. We haven't sent the AOS yet because we are missing my amounts from 2003 and 2004 taxes for the I-864, and he wants to send it without those. (The IRS lost my request for these documents) It's going to be another week or two til we get them. He just wants to have the file opened and doesn't care if they send it back and have tons of RFEs! So my question is, can we just go ahead and send it without the tax info, or should we sit and wait and risk the INS coming and picking him up and taking him to jail to try the removal proceedings? Please Help!

I agree. I only sent in tax returns for 2005 and we had no problems at all.

My husband got his 10 days after the welcome letter. Also, his online case status never changed and still hasn't even though he now has his green card!

where is my green card

Our welcome letter says to contact them if the green card hasn't arrived within three weeks. Have you tried contacting yet?!

Before my husband had his social security number, I was able to put him onto my credit card account (through Capital One). They didn't require a SSN and sent him a card with the same account number as me, but which had his name on it. We used this for part of our evidence. We had our interview so quickly, we hardly had time to accumulate evidence but brought photos, wedding cards and invitations that we had sent, mail with his name on it which also had our mutual address. It seemed to be enough evidence for our interviewer. good luck

Yes they will accept a P60 I sent my P60 from the UK for last years tax to prove what I had earned and paid tax on as I was still employed for 2 months after I got here...

It was accepted with no problems..

Kezzie

I also submitted my P60 which I (USC) received while working in the UK and I had no problems either.

Have you tried Google to see what the form is?

Also, do you qualify to file the I-864EZ?

Who May Use Form I-864EZ?

You may use Form I-864EZ IF ALL the following conditions

apply:

1. You are the person who filed or is filing the Form I-130,

Petition for Alien Relative, for a relative being sponsored;

2. The relative you are sponsoring is the only person listed on

the Form I-130 petition;

3. The income you are using to qualify is based entirely on

your salary or pension and is shown on one or more Forms

W-2 provided by your employer(s) or former employer(s).

You can also go to the IRS website (www.irs.gov) to find a listing a forms and what they are for. We only sent in our 2005 tax return and w-2 with the I-864. It isn't that you have to send a copy of the 1099, only send it if this is something you filed with the IRS.

Hi,

I finally received my "Welcome to the USA" letter today, with a notice date of July 28th (same day as my interview).

my case status online however has not been touched since 6/1/06.

It says that I should be receiving the GC in the next 3 weeks.

I'm so happy that I've finally got some form of notice stating that I am approved, rather than just a verbal approval from the officer. I fell that I can stop panicking so much now, although will not be completely happy until I have the GC in my hands!!

Good Luck to everyone else who is waiting.

Clara

We received our "welcome to the USA" letter today as well (we had the same interview date as you!). Our last "touch" was 7/05/06 - it was never updated since our interview. Like you, I feel a huge since of relief having that letter. Hopefully, green card very soon for us all!!

Green card, anyone???

No?? Nothing yet for me... getting antsy!

We were approved on 7/28/06 - no stamp, no change in online status, no welcome letter - trying not to panic!!

Congrats!

We had the AOS interview in Seattle on 20th a week earlier than you, the IO didn't stamp the PP. The status change was posted five days later, both the online status change and the welcome letter were on the same day,and the GC was received via the US mail on July 28th. So,its normal,if the IO told you that you were approved. You just need to wait a few more days and your GC will be in the mail,however you better start tango like this

Thanks so much for sharing your experience - and your dance moves!!

My case status has never updated since my interview last Nov.....

Kezzie

Well, that does help me feel better. I guess I assumed that because, during the whole of our interview, our interviewer was typing information into a computer, that this would show up online as at least a touch. Feels strange to go through the whole interview process and then leave without any actual proof that you were approved, other than someone telling you it's so....

Hi again,

As I posted earlier, my husband and I had our AOS interview last Friday, the 28th, and we were approved. However, my husband's passport wasn't stamped and we were told his green card should arrive in the next few weeks. My question is that our online status hasn't changed at all - it still says that it was last touched on 7/5/06. Is this normal? I guess I assumed that it would automatically update your online status just by virtue of having had an interview?!

Thanks for any help!

Congrats

Congrats. It must be a big weight off your mind to have it over and done with.

Hope you get your GC soon

Congratulations on getting approved. I can see why you felt upset about the interview. I'm from the UK and we interviewed in Oregon and the only question we were asked was how we met. I'm surprised they have a right to ask about religious customs and the number of children you want. I'm pregnant with my first and we don't know how many we want. I don't see how any answer to that question would prove anything. At least it's all over now and you got approved. It was such a relief for us that I conceived this baby about a week after I got my green card and we'd been trying for months without success! Life will be much less stressful for you from now on. Enjoy!

Thanks for the congratulations. We both will definitely feel better once we have the green card in our hands!

As for some of the questions we were asked, I'm not sure what they prove either. This whole process can be so intimidating. When we were in the interview, we just wanted to answer the questions and get things over with as quickly as possible!

Congrats

We are still waiting for our results. We also interviewed in Seattle. I am hope our file arrives in Seattle. That is what is holding us back right now. Our file is in San Francisco.

I'm sorry to hear that there is a delay for you - hope things work out and you hear news soon!

I'd just like to add, I never sent in any pages other than the biographical page and the ones with my visa and I94 and accompanying stamps.

I have stamps in mine from trips to Europe but I never included them, I didn't see any point. I wasn't ever asked about it either.

Just wanted to share my info. Hope this helps.

Same as us - we just sent in biographical page and the page with visa/I-94. We just got approved (interview last week) and were never asked to show my husband's passport.

Hi all,

Just wanted to post our interview experience from this past Friday. We've been rehashing the interview all weekend and are hoping it will be therapeutic for us to post it here and move on with our lives! The good news is that we were approved, the slightly bad news is that it was a more intense interview than we were expecting. However, my husband and I both feel this website was a fantastic source of information and support throughout this process so thank you to everyone!

First of all, we arrived about an hour early for our appointment. After going through security, we sat in a waiting room with about ten other couples who appeared to be there for interviews. Our appointment was at 3:00 pm and we were called in at around 3:10 pm.

Our interviewer was polite but professional. We both felt, looking back at things now, that she was intensely watching the both of us as we replied to the answers to her questions (and taking copius notes which she was hiding so we couldn't see). Our interview lasted about 25 minutes and she asked us quite a few questions. I should mention that my husband is Muslim and I am not. We aren't sure if this made a difference in our interview experience or, if it was the fact that we were there at 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon and she had more time to interview us because we were her last of the day!

Some of the questions she asked the both of us were:

1. How did you meet?

2. Do you both work? What do you do for a living?

3. Where do you live? How long have you lived there?

4. How many bedrooms do you have?

5. Who does the cooking? When I said my husband did most of the cooking, she asked us what kinds of things he cooks.

6. Do you want to have children? How many children do you want?

7. Where did you get married? Who was there?

8. She asked each of us how many brothers and sisters we have.

9. She asked our dates of birth and when she saw that it was recently my birthday, she asked what we did for my birthday (of course, my mind went completely blank and I couldn't remember a thing!)

10. She asked about my time living in the UK, how long I was there, where I lived, etc.

11. She asked details about trips we had taken in Europe together.

Some of the questions she asked my husband (non USC) were:

1. When was the last time you were in Pakistan?

2. What do you remember about Pakistan?

3. When did your parents move to the UK?

4. How many times a day do you pray?

5. Has your wife ever been to a mosque?

6. She then procedeed to ask a variety of questions about my husband's beliefs about Muslim women covering their heads. She stated she was asking because she didn't know, but my husband feels she was asking to find out more about his religious beliefs. We both found it hard to believe she had never interviewed anyone before who was Muslim. She thanked us for answering her questions and stated she had "learned some new things".

Lastly, she asked the standard "no" questions from the I-485 application - are you a terrorist, communist, etc.

She did not ask for our passports, only our ID/Drivers' license. She looked at our photographs. As evidence, we provided our lease agreement, renter's insurance, life insurance with my husband as primary beneficiary, and joint bank account statements. She did not take copies of any of our evidence. She did a lot of comparing between our K-1 application and our I-485 application.

She ended by telling us that she was approving our case, that our background checks were completed and therefore she was going to cancel our EAD, and that the green card should arrive in the next few weeks. She did not take my husband's I-94.

Looking back at things now, the interview was an intense experience. However, we didn't have anything to hide and answered questions honestly. I don't often post on this forum but the information here has been invaluable and I hope this information can be of use to others!

Saraandiffy

We submitted the I-485 and I-765 at the same time last May and both were received on May 24, 2006. Mary Ann had her biometrics done a couple of weeks later in Omaha. We've been checking her online status, waiting for news of her I-765 approval. It currently shows processing dates in Omaha for applications received as of June 12 and only confirms a date of receipt - May 24. Today we received an NOA advising her of a September 22 interview date.

My question is this: Is it normal to receive the NOA for the interview prior to receiving the I-485 approval?

I think you meant to ask if it is normal to receive the NOA for an interview prior to receiving I-765 approval?!! I can only speak from my own experience which is similar to yours - my husband received his interview letter (interview is tomorrow) and no word as of yet regarding his EAD. The good news is that if you are approved after your interview, then you don't need the EAD. Seems that there are a few of us who this process has been moving quickly for some reason!

Good luck!

We filed my husband's AOS application and EAD in March. He had his AOS interview on May 9th, and was approved pending the background check. He received his EAD on May 26 and his AOS application has been "touched" in June and July but still no word on his Resident Card.

That's good to know about the EAD anyway - sounds like your AOS status went pretty fast too.....at least in the beginning.....

Thanks for your responses. Sounds like you are saying that if a background check hasn't been completed, then we couldn't be officially "approved" even if everything else is in order and therefore, our EAD application would still be in the processing stage. I guess I'm just trying to prepare myself for all possible outcomes after our interview!

Hi,

As I've posted earlier, my husband and I have our AOS interview this Friday. Because we got the appointment so quickly, my husband hasn't yet had his EAD approved. If our interview is successful but we are told that his background check is still pending (which I suspect will happen), what happens to his EAD application? I guess I'm wondering if AOS interview is independent of our EAD application and if he could still get approved for his EAD while we are waiting for his background check to be completed. Anybody know? Hope this question makes sense!!