JayBabay

7 hours ago, ARDallas said:

That is not true. You can apply for citizenship after 3 years GC (conditional or not) - 90 days if you are married to US citizen. The system does not differentiate conditional or permanent. I applied for N 400 last week with GC conditional date 10/18/14. I dont have 10 years GC yet. 

 

It is stated in USCIS website : https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/article/chapter4.pdf

7 hours ago, Ken Adams said:

Agreed.

Thanks for the quick response. This is the impression I had as well, as clearly stated on their website. But nothing is ever 100% clear with these things, so I got a little confused when they were telling me it would take 5 years and that they are in the same situation.

Someone today was trying to tell me that the for anyone married to a US Citizen, the time of the 3 years of permanent residence starts after the first 2 years that they have arrived and received the conditional green card. They said they have to wait 3 years after the initial 2 years of the conditional green card and that the total time is 5 years, even if they are married. Can anyone confirm if this is correct, or do we still qualify to apply for citizenship since she has been here since August 2014, 2 years with a conditional green card, 1 year with the extension, and now we have the 10 year green card.

1 hour ago, nightingalejules said:

It's great that they were so quick to respond to the RFE!

Yeah, I was surprised myself. I half expected that they might change the message to reflect something to do with receiving the RFE and that's what I would check in to look for, but I was blessed with an approval notice instead. 

I remember the post office saying it would be there on April 22 (Saturday) and they likely didn't touch it till Monday, unless they worked Saturday and Sunday.. So, all things considered it was a a little over 2 weeks from them receiving it to actually getting the card sent out.

I haven't checked in for a while but we got an RFE on March 14. I'm financially responsible for the household and was already living in the house prior to my wife arriving so I didn't change bills or anything before I filed the I-751. Went ahead and changed some utilities to please them, gathered more documents from all of the categories and sent it out around April 19. I checked today and coincidentally it said Card Was Mailed on May 9. So, we're good, finally.

On 1/28/2017 at 7:53 AM, watdog said:

This is not for green card holders traveling outside the USA.  It's only for 7 countries, citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.  Pretty much everywhere that cheered as the trade towers collapsed.  Me and my wife are currently back in Israel for work and not worried about this at all.  Israel is in the middle east, Egypt, and Jordan.  All 3 visa's in my wife's passport and no issues.

Pretty offensive to make sweeping generalizations about some of those countries, as though there weren't people in many other countries in that region that may have "cheered." Yes, including but not limited to, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Palestine etc. I promise you can find evidence to support your "cheering" for all of the above. Bad eggs to be found in all baskets. So please, the basis of this list has nothing to do with "pretty much everywhere that cheered" because that list would be a lot longer than 7 if there was any merit to what you claim to be the reason.

Worksheet updated: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K2JoU_2yXD0QBBqRoM6_auTa52wY1gcMiM0YFhs6cYQ/edit#gid=1648152996

Can you add me to the worksheet? My information is all in the signature.

Yeah I was surprised when we sent ours out on May 23 and received NOA1 on May 27. So it can definitely happen.

Thanks!

You can never be too sure when dealing with this stuff.

Hello, having trouble understanding the extent of the question on other names used. On my wife's passport, social security, school transcripts, income tax returns her name is spelled the same. However on social media or the gym membership she adds my last name to it even though it not on any official documents. Should we just include this in other names used or it's not referring to this type of use?

I'm about ready to submit my forms although a couple things have me hung up and I think someone here will know the answer.

We didn't change my wife's last name to make things easier paperwork wise across the board. So she goes by her maiden name, although sometimes, like the gym membership or Facebook she just adds my last name to the end. Is this grounds for writing it as other names used if it's not on any of her official identification papers?

Lastly, I put a couple one liner explanations on the cover page for: 1. Why there are no utilities in her name. Reason being that I've already lived at this home and left everything as is, why go through the hassle of changing all of that if its working fine? Also, 2. My health insurance plan is a special rate grandfathered before Obamacare so I got her an individual plan. Is it okay to explain this on the cover page, or not mention it at all? Not sure how big of a deal they make of utilities and health insurance being joint. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would pay more for the sake of having both names lol

Thanks!

check made payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

check this out. https://www.uscis.gov/forms/paying-immigration-fees

Thanks for that, I appreciate the quick response!

Make check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security as spelled out in the instructions. Do not abbreviate. BTW, do read the instructions carefully.

I just wrote N/A in the first field for every child after the first one (as we do have one child), did not write N/A into every field of every child.

Thanks for the response, that helps. Do you have any idea about the USCIS ELIS Account number field? I didn't file my original petition electronically and I believe the only time I used the ELIS system was to pay the immigration fee. I'm not sure I have any account number? Do you have more information on this because the instructions they referred are not super specific.

Thanks again.

Hey fellow VJ'ers. Since I'm going to file the i-751 myself as opposed to using a third party this time I wanted to be sure about a couple things.

The check: Do I make the check payable to "USCIS"? Is there anything specific I have to write on the check?

It asks for the USCIS ELIS number, I completely forgot where I can find this as I haven't logged into in forever.

Lastly, is it really necessary to write N/A in every box that isn't applicable or checked? Like the entire section about children when we have no children.

Thanks guys!

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I've posted but I just wanted to check back in with everyone and say hi. I hope everyone is pulling strong through the journey still. My wife arrived August 8 and we've been enjoying our time together ever since. We feel so fortunate to finally be done with this process and I want everyone to know it will all be worth it in the end. Something to note, if the case was not expedited and all documents reviewed at time of interview, we would have been set back significantly because last week we received a checklist for the AOS, which we had RESENT on June 26. Almost two months for a response, I guess they opened it and checked it even thought the case was done and she's here. But look how long it had taken! The checklist was for one box that stated the number of people being sponsored which God knows who had forgotten to fill in at the lawyers office!

How are things going now, what is the waiting time looking like? I know they had sent out those 60 day letters at the end of July.

It took a week from interview to Visa in hand for her. But two of those days were holidays so it might be even less time for you.

You do not sound unappreciative. I struggled with those same emotions last week. Other VJs had to wait months for an interview date and here I was anxious and upset that my husband wasn't getting his Visa issued because of the glitch. But when you get to this point you are exhausted and it's the one step that you expect to be quick and easy, and it hasn't really been that way for the last week or so. Tuesday will be 2 weeks since our interview and hubby still doesn't have his Visa. We are expecting it tomorrow... And hopefully it is tomorrow because his flight is booked for Tuesday lol. But soon enough you. Too will be able to move on with your life. You just need a little more patience.... If you have any left because I didn't lol.

No one at the embassy or aramex would give her anyyyyyy information at all. She went to the embassy herself and when she got their they recognized her because they had the visa in hand about to give it to the Aramex courier. So they let her take it while she was there, what luck!

They told her to go pay a Immigrant Fee online $165. Do I do that now? They stapled the instructions to the Passport, we weren't sure if we are to remove them and pay it now, or leave it stapled..?

I know this might sound unappreciative but this whole waiting between "Ready" to "Administrative Processing" to "Issued" and Visa in hand is driving me nuts. At no point during this process will they give you the satisfaction of instant results. This marks one week since the interview, and although it does feel like it was just yesterday, reading your Visa is issued and printed but not having it so far for 3 days after that is such a bummer! Let us get on with our lives!

So sorry for everyone who has been or still is waiting for the status to change to AP or Issued.

They told you that you would have it by Saturday? I wish there was Saturday mail in Portugal so we could get it too

Congrats by the way!!!

Thanks! The embassy is open on Saturday there, closed on Friday. They told her she can pick it up directly from them. This is what we understood.

Wow! You really zoomed through this process (knock on wood). My best wishes for your future plans.

Thanks, and good luck to you as well. I see you got your case complete, not that far off the projected date

Yeah, 9 months and 20 days from NOA1 to Issued. I'll admit we were lucky with the expedite and with the interview date. If you remember NVC didn't receive my EP sent AOS and IV docs which I waited 42 days to hear back from them before resending. If I resent and went the normal route I would still be waiting for them to review the docs (would be 34 days today). And then wait for a CC, and then for an interview date.

After my case was expedited July 9, she was able to select an interview date July 14. When we checked availability the night before, the closest they had was August 12 and 17. BUT the next day when we did schedule, July 27 had opened up. So I would surely be here until October if not for that. Hope to have her here in the coming days (knock on wood).

Best news! Visa changed to issued today! Will have it by Saturday! Finallllyyyyyy

Congrats to evergone who heard good news today!

If you are lucky, really soon. My husband's has been stuck on "Ready" since last TUESDAY.

Wow! How annoying an nerve wracking that must be. I'm hoping I'm done by Friday, so stressful to the very end.. this never gets easy...

It shouldn't be in AP very long considering the beneficiary is a female. My guess the status will change to "Issued" real soon.

It's not like the same AP that they talk about in the NVC forum. It's just status change between Ready and Issued from what I hear. Which usually take a couple days but I guess now it's been taking longer depending on the embassy because of the computer problems they are having.

Because she received a congratulations letter that gave steps about Aramex and they kept her passport. It's not the standard 221g type of AP

Today our status changed from Ready to Administrative Processing. How long usually until issued from this time?

Visa approved at interview on Sunday but Monday and Tuesday were holidays so today is technically the first real work day after interview in the country, if it helps.

No one at the embassy said anything about problems printing VISAs. They just said check the CEAC website and once it says Issued get in contact with Aramex to have it delivered.. It was a holiday in the country today so I'm hoping tomorrow we might hear something. Does this sound logical or do I have any work with Aramex before all of this?

The weird thing is, when I used ustraveldocs.com to schedule the interview appointment, they made me specifiy a "Document Delivery" location. Not sure what that was about..?

Congratulations. That's great. Well you know when you have your stuff together they need not ask for anything. I am happy for you and you may be right about the MENA and women and being Christian its rare they are in AP for any amount of time.

Thanks so much!

A very big congratulations.

Thank you so much, I hope you get a CC soon.

Congratulations!! Finally ur happy days are going to begin! I hope we get out of this mess real soon as well!!

Thanks samreen, I wish the same for you! You are so positive throughout all of this and you even know you have daunting task of waiting a long time for an interview and dealing with AP. You are so strong!