Vintat

37 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

I have said repeatedly on here when people tell me that our nation is a land of immigrants. It is a land of immigrants yes but a land of immigrants that worked hard to push themselves up out of where they came from to come here, and push themselves and their families upward. 

 

So that's why it makes me mad when I see posts on here about how they can best bring family members here to live off the system or they just brought them here and what are their rights for this or that. No matter what your color, race, or nationality this is fundamental to our country that if you willing to work hard put in the time/effort then you will succeed. But lately it feels like people want to let this dream die at the feet of political correctness and that people shouldn't have to work hard to achieve what they want.

Do you really believe that most immigrants come here to live off the system?

Also when you say "it feels like", can you accept that that position may be more emotional, than rational? Who exactly is advocating "that people shouldn't have to work hard to achieve what they want"?

I just posted this not too long ago but it looks it got lost when the threads were merged so I'm posting again.. Sorry if it pops up elsewhere..

Let me preface my upcoming statements by saying this: I AM NOT in favor of anyone trying to enter and/or stay illegally into our country at this point but for those already here, especially the DACA folks, who have been law-abiding, paid their taxes and in general have been contributing positively to our society, I believe a path to legal status should be made available to them.   

The US has historically allowed Legal Immigrants to petition for their relatives, because they recognized that it is far better for a families' emotional, psychological and mental well being, for them to be re-united than to remain separated. So the question then becomes, what kind and how much of a detrimental effect has Family Based Immigration (FBI) had/is having on our country and, relative to other factors not related to Immigration, what percentage of blame could reasonably be assigned to FBI for the woes that our country is in?

I don't think that most immigrants that come to the US, legally or illegally, come here with the mindset of living off the system. They come here to work, 2 or 3 jobs if they have to, in order to support their family in the US or back in their homeland. Also the vast majority of immigrants, legal or illegal, do not commit crimes and for those who do, I dont believe that its at a rate any higher than that of the general "native" population. In fact, if I had to bet the farm, I would say the rate is probably less..

The US historically admits roughly 1million LEGAL immigrants each year, 45% of which are new arrivals to the country and the rest 55% are those that are already in the country that are upgraded to Permanent Residents. That represents just 0.3% of our US population of 327,000,000!  

I'm not saying there isn't fraud, and that their isn't a problem with the system that needs to be fixed, but I don't believe that the level of concern by some good folks over the magnitude of the negative impact of LEGAL Immigration matches the reality of the situation.

Hey Guys!

Like all of you, we're in the home stretch and we're looking forward to an end to this long Visa Journey!

Woud someone be kind enough to update our time-line please?

We filed our Marriage Based (3-Yr Rule) N400 Online:

 GC-Date.    |Sent.            |Cashd           |NOA            |FPrints.                                     |Field Office      |NBC/IOE

12/12/17     01/10/18      01/10/18     01/10/18    01/19/018 (Early Walk-In)       Newark, NJ      IOE

Thanks!!

Vintat

20 minutes ago, espared12 said:

Looks like all of us in the California Service Center have been forgotten.  Awesome to see people in Vermont are getting a lot of love!! Had issues with CBP after New Years. They are adamant that my wife's 1 year extension letter expires on receipt date 01/09/2018, instead of 1 year from expiration of her green card. They threatened to charge us $585.00 every time she crosses the Mexico/US border after 01/09/2018. We live in El Paso, TX, so we tried to schedule an Infopass appointment at our local field office with no success. They have no appointments available. So we made an infopass appointment at the US embassy in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We went and were told that they are no longer allowed to stamp the I-551 on passports outside of the country. They informed us that our local field office is saturated and we might not be granted a walk in. We were advised to travel to Albuquerque, NM, about 4 hours away, where they do have appointments available to get her passport stamped. USCIS officer confirmed that the expiration of the extension letter is indeed 1 year from receipt date. So now we have our infopass appointment for 01/09/2018 in Albuquerque. Crossing our fingers that we will not have any issues and get her passport stamped.

That - Is - Very - Interesting.... 

I thought it was settled that the letter expired one year from the expiry date of the Conditional Green Card NOT from the date of the letter itself.. 

It could be that the officers at that border crossing are making a mistake, but that's not a battle I'd like to find myself in, trying to convince them that they are wrong... 😳

On 12/18/2017 at 7:52 PM, Vintat said:

VSC

I-751 Date.........01/10/2017

NOA1 Date......  01/12/2017

Biometrics....... 02/15/2017

Approved..........12/12/2017

Follow Up:

Card in Hand!!

Approved     ....................................................12/12/2017

Card Production Ordered ..............................12/19/2017

Card Mailed      .............................................  12/22/2017

Card Delivered via USPS. Priority Mail......... 12/28/2017

We will be filing the N400 Citizenship Application in early January!!

To all our friends still waiting to hear something from the VSC and especially the CSC that seems to have hit a wall, continue to hang in there and we are rooting for you guys..  

5 minutes ago, Maite&Osmar said:

Hello everyone,

I would like to know if the people that have been approved from VSC submitted the 2016 file tax return or not.  Please advise.  Thanks

We did not submit our 2016 Tax Returns when we filed the I751 because we had not filed that year's tax return as yet. However, we did submit the 2014 and 2015 Returns in our package... 

We finally got our Removal of Conditions Approval Letter too!... 

VSC

I-751 Date.........01/10/2017

NOA1 Date......  01/12/2017

Biometrics....... 02/15/2017

Approved..........12/12/2017

Please update us.. Thnx

On to the N400 Naturalization Process in January!!!

2 hours ago, Gorjaeous said:

Thanks so much for sharing! and good luck with the rest of your travel plans!

Thank you so much!

My wife and the kids just came back from Medellin after spending a month.. Zero issues.. Not even sent to Secondary Inspection... 

She presented the expired Green Card along with the letter and  her passport, the officer processed her like any other Permanent Resident and then welcomed her home with a smile! 

1 hour ago, Gorjaeous said:

Don't quote me on this; I could be wrong, but in my understanding, the 1-year extension applies to the actual date on your green card. Essentially, our green cards didn't expire until April 2017, but we needed to file for removal of conditional status in January, right?

I agree....

There has been some speculation as to whether the expiration date is 1 year from the date of the Extension Letter or 1 year from the expiration date of the Conditional Green Card but I too believe it is the latter - i.e 1 year from the Conditional GC expiration.... 

17 hours ago, Stu4Lee said:

It's all very well folk here getting on their high horse giving their opinion on how it reads, that it couldn't be clearer, that there should be no confusion reading it, what it should be, what they think it should be or whatever. 

They can post what they like here, the fact is opinion is not what counts, as can be seen from the actual real life experiences of some posters.

 

 

Yes I like bold italic lol

I think @bolin786 is missing the real point of concern that most people have with regards to the 1 year extension. 

It matters not if you have correctly interpreted the expiry date based on the wording of the letter. What matters most is the grief you will experience, if someone who holds your fate in his/her hands does not agree with your interpretation of it. 

If you want to undergo an exercise in frustration; try convincing the person at the DMV that the expiry date of the extension is 1 year from the issue date of the actual GC when he has already made up his mind that rather, it is 1 year from the issuance of the NOA 1 letter. (been there, done that, got the t-shirt). 

Something being ambiguous doesn't mean that you can't read it and not figure out the correct interpretation the first time. Indeed you can, but if it is ambiguous, another person can read that exact same item and get a different interpretation of it. 

The fact that there seems to be widespread disagreement/uncertainty about this issue, by definition highlights its ambiguity....

On 3/16/2017 at 2:01 PM, Mollie09 said:

The fact that the letter says that it "extends your conditional resident status for one year" is not clear at all.

It could be "extends... for one year from the date of this letter" or "extends... for one year from the expiration date of your permanent resident card" - it would read the same. They made it vague and never bothered to fix it, it's on them.

 

From a personal standpoint, I got multiple different answers. CBP stamped my passport when I entered saying my extension was valid until one year after the date on the letter. A Tier 2 IO told me it was the green card date. An IO at an InfoPass agreed. Another, when I got my stamp, disagreed and said it was the letter.

 

Stop acting like you know the answer when even USCIS doesn't.

I agree Mollie 09...

How many times have we written a text, letter or an email and having proof-read it, had to revise a sentence or two, because we realized that it could be left open to misinterpretation?

I learnt very early in my English Language and Literature classes that the English language at times can be vague and ambiguous, and has been the source of many disputes with respect to contracts, written statements, testimonies, etc. 

After all, remember, "Let's eat grandma" has a very different meaning from "Let's eat, grandma"

We are all on this board to help each other out and my suggestion to us all is that if we can't respond to a poster without putting them down, it might be a good idea not to respond at all. 

I applaud @neilsqueen. 

On 1/27/2017 at 7:51 AM, nycqueens said:

LOOL! I agree. As long as youre providing tax returns/ transcripts from previous years, you should be fine. I didnt include 2016 tax return, we haven't gotten our w2s yet. I wasnt gonna wait for immigration laws to get worse, my evidence is sufficient id rather put my money on what I have and not on what i dont. 

I agree too... 

Not to say there couldn't be that one adjudicator who chooses to be difficult/unfair and sends out an RFE requesting your 2016 Returns when you couldn't possibly have had it when you filed in early January. 

That is gonna be the exception rather than the rule though,  so we sent in ours with just our 2014 and 2015 Tax Transcripts and we aren't losing sleep over it.. 

Obviously, if you wanna be super safe and choose to wait until you file your 2016 taxes,  to then submit your petition,  that is your prerogative of course... 

Finally, hopefully some meaningful movement again for VSC....

Just received our Biometrics Letter for a February 15 appointment date....

Please update us.. Thnx

Hi folks,

I751 petition was sent 01/10/17

USCIS Vermont received it on 01/11/17

We received the NOA this week dated 01/12/17

Check was cashed on 01/17/17

Would you be kind enough to add us too? 

Can somebody please point (or list them here) to the checklist of documents needed to be sent for EAD/AP renewal?

I know there are multiple posts out there but I want to be sure which one of them is most accurate. Each one of them has slight variations.

We got the now infamous and dreaded NPIW letter in July 2014 and submitted our EAD and AP renewal right at 120 days.

Please see the attached cover letter with 2 lists annexed to it detailing the documents we submitted for the renewal of both. Each application package was in a separate folder but submitted together (i.e same mailing envelope) with just the one cover letter. It was accepted and we got an appointment for new biometrics shortly after.

We did the biometrics for the EAD renewal but fortunately as is the case with a lot of us on here now, the I485 green card finally got approved so they will probably automatiEAD and AP Renewal Cover Letter.pdfcally cancel the EAD/AP renewal.

Its a culture shock at first. Everything will be different from what she is used to. When I first moved here 10 years ago I was 19 and was being away from my mom and the family I was raised with for the first time. I think I cried everyday for a whole month. But after I started getting around, meeting people and getting used to the side of the family I wasn't raised with, I learned to deal with it. Once she gets here and starts getting on with life and getting involved in things, meeting people, and just learning the American culture she will be fine and then she also has you to take her around and introduce her to new people and things. She'll end up loving it.

I noticed you filed for your mom. Has she arrived as yet and has she adjusted ok?

We're getting ready to file for our dad and we're worried how he might adjust when he gets here.

Got married April 8 after fiancée in country for 2 months on the K1 Visa.

Sent I-485 AOS along with concurrent I-131 AP and I-765 EAD via FedEx on April 10.

Confirmed Delivery April 11.

Received text/email notification at 1 am this morning April 18. Checked my account and check cashed too.

We're off to the races!!!

You are correct Jay-Kay.

I was just expanding on what you said, since I imagined that if someone reading your post was not as informed as others are about this fact, then they might not be sure whether you or the other poster was correct.

You also raised a good point above. If you are a co-sponsor on the I-862 Affidavit of Support, then you need to show proof of US Citizenship or Permanent Residency. If you the petitioner, do not need a co-sponsor because you earn enough or you have substantial assets, then you are not required to submit that proof.

Don't forget a copy of the USC's birth certificate and/or passport bio page for proof of citizenship. Also, the W2s.

Agreed with others, it's a good idea to apply for EAD/AP with AOS, as lead time for GC might take longer. But the decision will always be yours.

What does the USC need to send proof of citizenship for, and why would they need W-2s when using IRS transcripts?

We filed our I-485, AOS; I-765, EAD; and I-131, AP a week ago and our fingers are crossed that everything goes smoothly with no RFEs or other undue delays.

For the K1 process, the petitioner's Proof of US Citizenship is not listed as a requirement on the I-485 AOS Instruction forms. (I suppose it doesn't hurt but my understanding is that it is not absolutely necessary)

Also if you opt to use a copy of your IRS Transcript(s) instead of a copy of your Tax Return(s), then you will not need to send additional supporting documents such as W2s and 1099s, etc.