rmarkwallace

You also want to apply for the social security card immediately.  You will need the number to file a joint return or open a bank account. Social Security will stamp it "NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT" but you can have that fixed at the local social security office after your arrival. For tax purposes, you got married the date of the wedding, not the date that you arrived in the US.  If the petitioner files as single after the wedding it will trigger fraud investigations.

Has the step daughter been formally adopted? That may or may not make a difference but it might be a game changer.

My wife's ultimate destination would be Newburgh, NY where they might not have a customs and Immigration operation, meaning that they would clear her in Detroit because it is the only thing that they can do. It is probably cheaper to bring her into Kennedy on a foreign flag carrier anyway.

Were you immigrating on the flight that only took 15 minutes? They used to do a final inspection in the secondary inspection area. Customs is also by a different set of rules because she is importing the contents of her suitcase.

Looking at the responses, it appears that they may no longer do a final inspection.

I hope that no secondary inspection is now typical. What they used to do is pull you out of line and ask you some questions based on what is in the sealed envelope to make sure that you are the same person who was issued the visa.

Do you know what Delta does when someone misses a conection due to Immigration issues? Put her in a hotel? Put her on a later flight at no charge?

MY fiance's ultimate destination is New York, but Delta will clear her in Detroit. I don't want her to miss her connection because it might leave her overnight in the terminal. As you probably know, Secondary Inspection is standard procedure for someone Immigrating for the first time with the sealed envelope.

The SRC timeline updated on Friday night. I am speculating that he didn't update it when he made the decision Monday and, when he did his statistics for the week, they didn't add up and when he found the mistake in that it was that he didn't update my case on the computer. It is also possible that there was a computer problem preventing him from updating cases or maybe they only get updated on Friday. But it is odd that I got the written notice before I got the email and the text message.

On July 14, they approved the petition based on the copy that I submitted. I never sent the original. That is about three weeks after I sent them the additional information. But they didn't update the visa status check that you put the SRC number in to get status. I found out when I got the notice of action in the mail.

One of the requirements for her getting a visa is that she have a valid passport. A valid passport means that she has the permission of her country to leave. They can't make a decision if they can't establish that she has a valid passport. Someone awaiting a criminal trial, for instance, would have their passport revoked, suspended or placed in the custody of the court. They also need to see the expiration date.

Don't be surprised if they reschedule.

In some countries, there is a procedure by which a passport can be rush ordered. See if Malaysia has one.

For instance, you can get a same day US passport if you are willing to travel to the office where they are made up and have a legitimate reason. I once got someone a US passport for a new born in one day. We had to drive from Albany, NY to Philadelphia.

There is a technical problem with the issuing of passports in that the machine that heat seals them together has to be run continuously so they only have them in centralized locations where it can run all day.

A travel agent in her country would probably know if a a quick replacement passport can be done. Possibly also a national elected official. A passport that is not made with the heat sealed process would not be accepted by anybody.

My fear is that when she checks in without a passport, the Consulate won't even let her sit in the waiting room. They are oriented to keeping the passport at the completion of the interview, stamping the visa in it and then delivering it the way that the consulate in that country handles it.

I didn't see that you had found it when I just posted. But some of the information is of general interest to people who read the posts so I will leave it up.

I now have the origina but I am holding it because if I send additional information, they would hold up sending it on the the consulate while they read the information. Their computer only tells them that additional information is submitted, not what it is. They don't know that I am only substituting the original for a copy. For all that they know, The unsolicited additional information might be my withdrawing the petition so they will hold up everything until they can read it.

I got an email and a text message at 10:30 PM June 30th logging in the response and telling me that I should hear further when it is evaluated, which should be within 60 days, I am guessing that it will be much less. When the original comes in the mail I will forward it to them.

It was sent as a PDF file that I printed out. The basis on which I got it was disclosed in the response. My fiancee wrote it ou tin long hand, had it scanned and sent as a PDF file. Chances are they will accept it.

In the absence of other issues, a good supervisor should tell XM0012 that the case is resolveable and Manila can question that further if they really want to.

The reason why Immigration handles the petitioner's end of it here and then the Consulate handles the beneficiaries end of it there is so that the consulate, which knows local conditions, can verify the the beneficiary's side of the story.

She also is sending me the original that I will forward to them when I get it. This is a common practice in the legal field. Nowadays, faxes are what make the world go round.

It also didn't say that her signed intent was the only proof, that it was a possible proof. They listed other possible proofs. For instance, they said that if I had made a deposit on a reception hall or had exchanged emails about wedding plans, they would consider that.

When I went through my divorce, the filing was done that way, and most of the correspondence was annotated "signed in the writer's absence to avoid delay."

In fact, the Immigration doesn't want originals of a lot of documents because they might get lost. They ask for photocopies and will request an original if they have a doubt. They accepted a photocopy of my divorce decree and my birth certificate.

Their real issue was to make sure that I hadn't filed a petition for somebody who hadn't agreed to marry me at all.

It is possible that the online brokers don't issue the ticket at all. They issue the itinerary and you show your passport at check in. But I would be SURE, SURE that the person that you are dealing with knows what he is doing.

I didn't see your answer of 5:22 PM. That would mean that the ticket is issued at the point of check in. In the old days, if your US travel agent gave you the ticket and you mailed it to her, it would be confiscated and she would be denied boarding.

A422, how did you buy and pay for your ticket? Did she have a problem in the age of electronic ticketing? Maybe with electronic ticketing, it is issued at the point of check in which solves the problem that used to be when everybody had a paper ticket. I live near enough to Kennedy.

Foreign Flag carriers tend to depress ticket prices at the airports that they fly into. It costs me 20% more to depart from the local airport than it does from Kennedy in New York. It also takes longer because the traveler makes a bad connection in Detroit, rather than a good one in Seoul, Beijing or Taipei. Being as you are in Maryland, Dulles might be cheaper and the foreign flag carriers might be cheaper than Delta. That would also go for arrivals. Go on Kayak as a starting point for fares.

It depends on when you fly. Right now it is the summer and the fares are higher. They will go down in September, back up in December, then back down January through March. In the age of Expedia and Kayak, the consolidator tickets through a travel agent can sometimes be more expensive. There used to be a regulation in the Philippines that if the travel started in the Philippines, the ticket had to be issued in the Philippines. The American travel agent would put it on the airline computer and the beneficiary would go into the airline ticket office and have it issued. I don't know what the procedure is now. I am going to have my fiance just buy the ticket in the Philippines to be sure that there is no problem. Be careful about non-refundable non-changeable tickets in case the beneficiary has a problem. My fiance is bringing an eight year old with her. The rules are all different for an emigrant from the Philippines than it would be for a visitor.

Canadian Citizen matters because the beneficiary can enter the United States as a visitor without a visa. The beneficiary couldn't do that if he was from the Philippines.

http://www.visapro.com/Immigration-Articles/?a=1484&z=46

Here are some definitions of being out of status, unlawfully present, and what happens once it's resolved. If I were him, I would avoid having his beneficiary flash her passport at the border or such, but he wouldn't be the first person to file late because he lacked a document. Nothing is going to happen if a real marriage took place within 90 days of arrival. It is also possible if the marriage didn't take place until after the 90th day but I wouldn't take a chance.

But this is also why you rush your beneficiary to a justice of the peace as soon as the jet lag wears off and you have the nice wedding that you want later. All you need is for the benrficiary to go into the hospital on the 85th day. You also can't put him or her on your insurance until there is a wedding and don't get the ball rolling on her right to work until you adjust status.

You would be surprised how much of that goes on. At the IRS, 11% of all tax returns arrived unsigned. By the time that you sign it and resubmit it, the filing deadline may have passed and you might have to pay late filing penalties. I once filled out an application for permanent residence in Canada and it was rejected because a box wasn't filled in and in the meantime, the law changed and he was no longer eligible to file!!!!

You are starting over. The application was not denied, it was sent back as being unprocessable. As soon as they saw that it wasn't signed, they didn't officially have a petition. That is why they do an initial screening within days of receipt, to get the application by clerks who are only looking for things like if the correct fee is enclosed, if it is signed, if a required form is included, etc. Do not become anxious that they had a problem with it's contents, as soon as they saw that it wasn't signed they knew they couldn't do anything with it so it wasn't really read seriously. It might not matter whether you just sign it or fill out a new application all over again. Be sure that it doesn't have other problems before you resubmit it.

The reason why I told my fiance that we will marry in a private ceremony within seven days of her arrival and have the real wedding later is so that I can immediately file for her to adjust status. It is my impression that the application to adjust status can also include a temporary work permit request. Your beneficiary is not a resident of the state for tuition purposes until she is a resident of the country. The university might not check very carefully on an enrollment, but because they are probably going to have to pay her through a payroll system with w-2's and social security withholding, it won't get through. The old "Do you have the legal right to work in the United States?" question is going to hit your beneficiary right between the eyes.