valverdeveslings

Hmmm that must be only for K-1 then...

FYI, it takes forever for the packets 3 & 4 to arrive from the embassy so if you live in Santiago, go into the embassy directly and schedule your interview.

They will provide you with the packets there. I believe that it is open Wednesday from 8:30-10:30 am but you should probably confirm this.

Hi, my wife is from Chile and she came here on a K-1. The U.S. embassy in Santiago is very easy to go through, I think this is because Chile is an extremely low fraud country. They were very nice and helpful throughout the entire process. Minimal documentation was needed at the interview, just the basic paperwork.. they didn't even look at any of the evidence that we brought. Good luck!

My wife got her EAD about two months ago and still no word about interview or interview waiver. I think it typically takes about 3-5 months after EAD if you're going to have an interview and around a year if you get a waiver.

Also, I loved you and Jason on 90DF! I wish you two the best

We did both. We left our dog in Chile initially until we got settled here and now we're finally bringing her over here next week. We also adopted another dog from here in the U.S. which was honestly the best decision ever.... definitely adopt

My dog went from stinking hot Australia in the summer to freezing cold Georgia in the Winter with snow. He was fine.

Unless the dog will be stuck outside in sweltering heat after being in the cold I wouldn't stress. Does the dog stay outside? If its an inside dog it will be able to stay in the cool anyway inside the house and not be in the sun sweating.

That's really good to know. The dog will be inside all the time, what I was worried about was being her being stuck in the plane or on the tarmac if it's too hot out.

It doesn't get Hot in LA

Not really hot, but it can get in the 90s. Some airlines don't accept dogs when its over 85 degrees

I think it would be better if you help her transition into the warmer weather. If she gets here in May, she'll have time to adapt but if she gets here when it's already 100 degrees, she might get sick. Also, remember it's a long flight from Santiago so she needs time to recover from that too.

I think so too! We decided to bring her here within the next two weeks when the weather will be nice and cool for her.

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are planning to have our dog shipped to us via LAN Cargo. We are putting her on a direct flight from Santiago, Chile to Los Angeles and were wanting her to arrive on June 19th. However the more I think about it I'm getting worried that in mid june it will be too hot in LA and overall too dangerous for her. What would you do in our situation? It's not ideal but if it means our dog is safe we would put her on the next flight here before it starts to get too hot.

If you have the means to go live in Colombia (even if it is for a 90 day period.. which is quite common in Latin America), that would be the best thing to do. Learn some Spanish, meet her family, get to know her & her country more...

I wouldn't worry about it: many others have previously experienced this, and we had the issue that USPS alleged attempted delivery and holding for pickup that turned out to be 'out for delivery'...in short, the USPS is a bit of a mess with these, but sit tight, as they tend to sort out. It's often best to phone your local post office, simply because they often have a better idea of whether or not they've got the package in their position, which I did this morning.

Yep, we sorted it out with the post office & received it yesterday!

Combo card was 'delivered' but we received nothing, I guess this is a common problem with USCIS & USPS. We're trying to track down where it could be. Hope this doesn't happen to anyone else!

My wife's EAD & AP were approved today also

Hi! We are Jan AOS filers too, we just did walk-in biometrics and now are waiting for the EAD/AP decision. Good luck to you all!

You can go into the Norwalk office in person and request an expedite. Ours was expedited on the day of the wedding from the Beverly Hills office and it came in about 2-3 weeks compared to the 6-8 weeks they normally process it in. For your case, you could have it potentially the day you visit Norwalk.

Congratulations!!

It is hard to say. Would it be possible to bring the document to the County Clerk's Office and request a clean copy--or does your county have an online system where you can download a new clean copy? Alternatively you could include a note with your AOS package explaining that this was how you received the document. I'm not sure if that would result in an RFE. Good luck.

Yes we are able to order a copy online which would arrive most likely before an RFE would be received. The thing is that we already sent AOS so I guess at this point the only option is to hope that there is no RFE (or contact USCIS?). Thanks for your help!

My wife and I just sent her AOS with a certified copy of the marriage certificate. When we brought the certificate into Social Security to get her a new card the lady said that we would most likely have problems with USCIS because parts of the marriage certificate are smudged (it's poor quality for a marriage certificate). This was the condition that the county clerk's office sent the certificate in... we did not damage it. Has anyone had issues with this?

**only the date of the marriage and our first names on the change of name section are hard to read, everything else is visible.

Hi everyone, I have a few questions about the I-864 for AOS:

1) We have a co-sponsor because I am a student & all I currently have is a part-time job where I work two days a week, do I need to include this on the i-864 or could I put unemployed or leave it blank? I've only been working there for a few months and do not have an annual salary or anything.

2) My dad was the co-sponsor for the K1 process when he was employed and he is currently unemployed with a year's pay from his last company that he just ended in Oct. He essentially has the next job lined up but because of all of the processing he is technically still unemployed. Will this affect his ability to be the co-sponsor?

Thanks!

Thanks! Are you from Chile?

My fiancée is (but she's actually leaving in a few hours)

I used to live there with her and we did most of the K1 process from Chile so I don't think it's necessary for the petitioner to be in the U.S. and the beneficiary in the foreign country for the entire process... there are ways to work around it if you have friends and family that are willing to help you out while you will be in the U.S. for your trip. For example you'll need someone to check your mail to see if you have anything from the consulate.

You can send us a message if you have any other questions about the K1 process in Chile!

Thanks again everybody.

It was a long night for me, but to read all your responses and messages its helping me a lot.

Its amazing how much confusion, scams and bad information you can find all over internet. Just want to say about our first idea of me going there and changing the status, that we were told by a lawyer (3 in fact) that was an option, never we intend to do anything ilegal.

What I have read its that you can do that, but TO KNOW that you are going to get married thats the problem. And yes, I guess they can found out, somehow, that you entering to get married. And thats really scary.

Anyway, we are going to apply for the K1, it will be a miracle to have the K1 for the time of my trip on january, but who knows... maybe luck its on our side because we find out about how wrong our plan was before we get married.

Im thinking about going on my trip on january but... ¿what if I need to be here in Chile to do something for the K1 and im there in Vegas?

I have not seen my fiance sice july and you can imagine how excited we are about my trip. But it makes me scare that I cant be for some important event at the K1 process ¿what do u think?

The only important part that you would need to be in Chile for is your medical and interview. Worst case scenario is that your interview is scheduled during your trip... all you would need to do is contact the consulate in Santiago and ask to postpone the interview. I personally don't think that your January trip would get in the way of your visa at all, in fact it may be perfect timing as you can go through the USCIS & NVC process together in the states and then be back in Chile to finalize your visa.

Adorable video! My fiancée will be here in just two days finally and it goes to show that the time does pass and you'll be together before you know it. Best of luck to you guys

Wow, congratulations! Now go get married finally!!

Praying for you and your family

It really depends on the place. When I changed my name through court, there were places that wanted to see the certified copy, which you don't get until you publish it in the newspaper.

I was trying to use the copy that they give you to put in the paper, to change my name in all of these places. SSA and DMV definitely didn't accept it. My banks, school, credit cards, car insurance, only one (the school) asked to see the copy I had.

They didn't even care that it wasn't certified, everyone else just took my word for it. I was flabbergasted, but that just goes to show, the government will always be more uncomfortable to deal with, unfortunately.

So you can use this copy to try and change your name, you actually never know unless you try. Some places may let you change it, others may ask for the certified copy. Usually you can do everything in one day.

You're right, it doesn't hurt to try! I think we will try to change our names with minor things such as bank accounts, school records, etc with the customer copy and then wait for the certified copy to deal with gov related name changes.

Thank you both for your help! It seems as though this customer copy, if we even get one, won't be sufficient.

There is a difference between a marriage license and a marriage certificate. A marriage license doesn't prove that you got married, it is only used to get married. The marriage certificate is what proves your marriage.

The copy you got from the court or clerk, should be certified already. Does it have a stamp or seal on it? You also don't need to send this with your AOS, only a photocopy of it.

I only used the term marriage license because on one state website it said you can use your marriage license or marriage certificate as proof of a name change.

In the county we will get married in couples don't receive the certified marriage certificate until 6-8 weeks after the marriage. They give out a 'customer copy' on the day of the ceremony and of course the license is to keep. It's very inconvenient but that's how LA County is :/

We're going to wait for the certified copy for AOS but just wondering if we can use the customer copy to change our names on SSN, bank, passport, state ID, etc....?