mychelle

yodrak, i asked around first on which copy of the marriage cert is sent with the AOS apps and from one couple who went through LA county registrar's office...they just made a copy of the original marriage certificate given to them that same day. hopefully it would be sufficient for the USCIS. i haven't seen a lot of RFE's for that around here. i'm actually expecting RFE's for the I-864...for things already sent.

edited to add: yeah, ours was a civil ceremony performed by an officer at the registrar's office. so the marriage certificate we received from them that same day should be considered government-issued.

^i agree with dr_lha. i did think i had to wait for the CERTIFIED copy of our marriage certificate before filing but when i checked out the I-485 instructions it only asks for a copy of your marriage certificate. it takes a month after the marriage date before we can receive certified copies from LA county and we were going to wait until then, but after reading the instructions i just went ahead and made a copy of the marriage certificate given to us after the civil ceremony. we just received our CERTIFIED copies yesterday and we'll be bringing those to our interview just in case they ask.

hello! yes i'm still lurking. congrats to the new approval. it seems as though the Embassy is doing some new SOP where in they automatically hold the approved Visa if they have questions re: BC's, Cenomar etc...at least they don't consider you on AR.

to those replying...please don't quote the entire forum when responding. if you happen to include the rest of the entries written by others...you can always delete it...(just make sure the codes are not broken...i.e. [ qoute] text [ /qoute]...is at the beginning and the end of what you are actually quoting. just trying to make it easier for everyone and less cluttered. or you can always just click on ADD REPLY at the bottom of the thread.

a friend of a friend met a girl over the internet, went to the Philippines many times this year and is planning to do K1. however, he said that his lawyer had adviced him to not mention how they met as it would cause delays and complications. i told him that, in my opinion...and from what i've seen with other couples who met through the internet...telling them exactly how you met is not really an issue. lying about it would be a big issue instead.

they haven't filed anything yet...just gathering documents...(i almost wanted to offer up my help but since they already hired the attorney...i didn't say anymore. i did tell him to checkout VJ.com though.) is there anything else i should tell him to help him out?

my fiance was sick too when he got here. it started with a cold then a neverending cough. he was on antibiotics for about 1 week and then another 2 weeks when the first set of antibiotics did not do its job. we were suppose to get married about 3 weeks when he got here but we decided to wait until he's off his meds and feeling better. your fiancee's reasons to wait to get married before she gets better is valid...although the sleeping in separate beds (unless she has a highly communicable disease) and her staying away and living with a friend to be close to a doctor that gives free medical assistance (how lucky she is to have that. my fiance did not have insurance so everything was paid up front in cash. =( )...is somewhat suspect. even you yourself has some doubts about it. think this over many, many times. good luck!

to the OP: it seems like you're already in so deep with this woman from work...to the point of no return. you may not have done anything physical yet...but you're technically cheating on your wife already (if you ask me, that's the worst kind of cheating.)

i say tell your wife what's going on with you and let the chips fall where they may and good luck in your future "ventures".

we filed about the same time. please see our signature below. we received the NOA notices in the mail today and then added the receipt numbers into the USCIS online case tracking so we can received email notices. good luck to us!

i just scanned through that document. oh man...i can see why people always advise to send only what is needed. did you see those boxes of paper stuff???

I'm not in the AOS stage yet, but I think you need to make sure that the copy of the marriage certificate is a "certified" one.

Also, I think you need to include an additional copy of the passport and the K1 visa for the I-765.

i only sent a regular copy of our marriage certificate, since the one i had was the ORIGINAL one (it had original signatures of everyone...us, witnesses, deputy commissioner...etc). we have ordered CERTIFIED copies but we won't get them until a month from now. we will be bringing that to the interview as it is required.

for the I-765, they only asked for the front and back copy of your I-94 (although the I-94 was stapled to the page facing the K1 visa...so it was copied too)

^that probably applies to a co-sponsor but if you're the PETITIONER you don't need to show proof of US citizenship since you already did that when filing the I-129F.

-proof of co-mingling assets is necessary for the interview but was not asked as supporting docs for I-485.

-i read that part too that you can send one cashier's check or money order for the I-485 fee ($325) and biometrics ($70 fee)...they even gave an example: $395 [although i'm sure it won't hurt to separate them].

it should be stamped in the passport (where your I-94 is stapled on). 90 days from date of POE.

she went through JFK POE and got the temporary EAD. =/ i don't know why they don't have that in all POEs. good luck in your new job!

my husband says that people must think he's Latino because Mexicans and other Spanish-speaking people talk to him in Spanish (so he doesn't understand what they're talking about!) i finally overheard someone talking to him in "Spanish" ...turns out they were speaking to him in English with a heavy Spanish-accent.

you can compare your checklist with mine. this is pretty much the basic list that everyone else had.

I. Form I-485:

- payment of $395.00 for I-485 application plus biometrics fees

- (2) passport style photos

- Form G-325A

- copy of marriage certificate

- copy of the fiancé petition (I-129F) approval notice [NOA2]

- copy of Form I-94

- copy of foreign birth certificate

- copy of passport page with nonimmigrant visa

- sealed envelope of medical/vaccination supplement received from Civil Surgeon

- Form I-864, Affidavit of Support with its supporting documents (tax returns & W2 last three years/ proof of employment/ paystubs, etc.)

II. Form I-765:

- payment of $180.00 for I-765 application fee

- (2) passport style photos

- copy of Form I-94

if your papers and all other requirements are in order...the rape trial results should not affect your visa applications.

please see my timeline below. she should be able to apply for her SSN...just as long as she selects the NOT VALID FOR WORK option (i forgot the exact wording but it's on the SSN card application).

her I-94 is still valid to apply for an SSN although not for WORK AUTHORIZATION

sorry to hear about your situation but the CFO exist to protect its Philippines citizens especially those considered "minors". you can try to make calls to the Manila Office but i'm not sure if it would help. it seems like each office is acting independently from each other...especially between Manila and Cebu. the bright side at least is...March is not that far away. good luck!

"The U.S. Consulate in Manila is not required to accept financial co-sponsor documentation, and they currently are not accepting co-sponsors for K visa processing. You must qualify on your own and must have current, stable employment in the U.S."

I was told this by an attorney, is there any truth to this that the consulate in Manila does not accept co-sponsors.

I am a student right now but I have free rent and a willing co-sponsor.

my cousin (the USC), his gf and their baby went through K1. he stayed in the Philippines for the duration of the petition thus he had no income to show for. he had his dad and his brother co-sponsor him (he was and is living with them.)

the glitches for him were...he needed to show his DOMICILED status (since he lived in the Philippines for almost a year) and the baby's citizenship status.

they just arrived in the US more than a month ago and getting married this Friday.

Mychelle,

I'd caution you strongly against not applying for your EAD. It is possible that your green card will be processed before your EAD, but the document will pay for itself almost immediately if that isn't the case.

Best wishes for a speedy process.

yeah i did! we talked it over last night and it is a good idea to apply for the EAD anyway. ok...so now we wait...

:crossfingers:

congrats to those approved!

I notice you are going through the Los Angeles DO -- they process AOS pretty quick, people usually get their interviews in about 90 days (I have not seen anyone at the LA DO transferred to the CSC btw) but process EAD about a month faster -- I'm gonna guess you can earn more than $180 in a month's time.

Also, I'm sure glad we applied for it! It has been 4 months since our interview and 7 from apply for AOS and we still haven't got the green card.

what do you mean Los Angeles DO? i hope you mean after we send it to the Chicago Lockbox, they will forward it to the LA DO...because the whole thing is going to Chicago.

good luck on your AOS!

I know that in some cases AOS seems to be adjudicated pretty quickly. However, there are others that take a terribly long time. If you get an RFE of any kind or are held up by the FBI checks, you may just want to invest the $180 for the work permit. If you get the AOS approved first, you have only lost $180, but if you have to wait months for AOS to be granted, and didn't apply for an EAD, you would lose a lot more i.e. the salary you could have been earning.

Personally, I'd file for both.

i feel the same too which is why our application is already set for AOS and EAD. i just been browsing too long in the AOS forum this afternoon and seeing all those timelines got me thinking maybe filing for an EAD would just be a waste. thanks for the response.

tc!

hi rebelheart

if you have received your greencard that is your back into the country pass lol...in other words that is the card that proves you are allowed back into the country because u live here mate...so if your going overseas just remember to take your greencard with you and show the officer at the POE mate...

mychelle

well it all depends really..i applied but got transferred and got my greencard before my EAD...although it might be a waste of money as you can see on the lists quite a few have got their EAD's before their greencard...so it is up to you what you would like to do...

good luck on getting transferred to CSC..

take care

kath

bethnash ..fingers crossed for you

thanks for the response. our application is actually set for the AOS and EAD already. i'm just having second thoughts seeing other people's timelines (even the ones not transferred to CSC and interviewed.) i am keeping my fingers crossed that we will be LUCKY as you guys. B)

we are sending our AOS and EAD application tomorrow. now i'm wondering if we should apply for EAD if it is possible that the AOS will be approved first than the EAD.

is it worth $180 bucks to risk it?

Good Lord.

Talk about an entitlement mentality.

i call it OPTIMISM.

My fiance's interview is supposedly scheduled Nov 28th, but last month I caught him cheating on me. Hell! I didn't send him the affidavit of support papers & I faxed a letter to the Manila Embassy that I've changed my mind & I'm withdrawing the petition. You might think that it's kind of harsh, but the last cheating has been the third time. He already cheated on me twice in the past and I have forgiven him for that because I love him. His friends & family are telling me that "he's a guy and he's only doing that because we're apart and he's lonely." #######! I was so depressed for 2 weeks, but now I'm okay. No way in hell that he'll come here in the US through me. And like you, I made 4 trips in the Philippines, 1 trip for me & him in Hongkong, and about $15,000 in cash & gifts for the last two & a half years for him and his family.

Lying about your previous marriage is bad, but that doesn't give the other party an excuse to cheat. And I'm not telling you not to forgive her, but believe me it's hard to put that incident at the back of your mind. I know because it happened to me.

Take care!!!

Karel

so sorry to hear about this. yeah, i heard about that excuse about "he's a guy...he gets lonely..." that's NO EXCUSE! i swear our culture has too much double standard and it's always leaned more towards men. if you did that to him...i'm sure they will be calling you something else.

glad that you did the right thing. good luck with the rest!

as for the OP. she's young and inexperienced...probably unsure of what she wants...in terms of a relationship. you might be doing her a favor too if you walk away.

we will be sending our application tomorrow...AOS and EAD. i hope we will be one of those transferred to CSC without interview.

i've been looking at the approved timelines...and it looks like the GC is approved about the same time as the EAD. is it still worth it applying for EAD?