danica1

11 hours ago, heatherandtezz said:

So I got a notification today saying my GC is being produced. Anyone know how long it takes to get the card from this point? Will I get a tracking number?

I received a notification that the GC was being produced on the 12th, and a message saying it had been sent on the 14th. It arrived within a few days via priority mail. 

Hi all! 

I'm a VSC filer and I received my letter of acceptance today! NOA 9/30/16, Bio 11/1/16, Acceptance date 8/31/17. MyUSCIS status has not changed yet. 

Good luck everyone! Hoping things will pick up for CSC too. We all know how rough the waiting game can be. 

I called USCIS a couple of days ago and they said VSC is backed up and currently handling mid December 2015 cases. Going to be a long wait 

Welcome! Hope your journey is smoother than ours!

Hello everyone!

Looks like it has been quiet here for a while but here's one new Finnish/American couple

I am Finnish and my spouse is a US citizen. We are both living in Finland at the moment and we are about to start the CR1 visa process.

Okay I sent an email to that address..... I looked up the vaccination requirements and apparently you need to have it if you had your exam within the "flu season" time period which is October 1st - March 31st and she said it was not needed. Looking over her DS-3025 with the vaccinations she has all that is needed except for the Influenza. I mean sure we will be sending it in and hoping we will not get an RFE but it would upset me greatly if we had to find a civil surgeon in the USA just to get her a silly flu shot and have to pay to have the entire I-693 form filled completely out again which will be expensive. I am unsure of what to do since well calling there will be quite expensive and I saw there was no way to contact the Doctor directly. She had no issues at POE and the report has the box checked that the vaccination requirements for the US were complete. :/ She did not have a varicella vaccine and I did not see that on the requirements. she had 2 Td shots, 2 of the DT,DTP,DTaP, 3 of the IPV shots, 2 shots of MMR, and 3 shots for the Hepatitis

Well I had my medical exam in November and having looked at the requirements on the CDC's site I was expecting way more vaccinations than they actually gave me. I brought up the list of requirements with one of the nurses, and she said it's more of a recommendation than a strict requirement. I ended up googling it, and if I remember correctly, the panel physician can choose the ones s/he deems appropriate given the applicant's age, health and medical history. I entered the country with no problems whatsoever, even though I had only received a tetanus booster and a polio shot, and have never gotten any additional shots for travel or any other reason. So no Hepatitis shots for example. Since I don't have to do AOS and no one is going to be looking at my vaccination records again you'd think that whatever I had when I entered would be fine for you as well. I mean definitely look into it, this could be a whole another thing for you guys, and you want to get it done right the first time. It would just seem really silly if, just because we had different visas, you'd be required to have way more shots than me.

Congratulations! You can pay the ELIS fee before or after, but the sooner you pay, the sooner you get your residency card. The instructions should have been outside the envelope, maybe they forgot to give them to you? Anyways, you can just go to https://elis.uscis.dhs.gov/cislogin/login

and create an account and pay the fee.

Btw if you (or anyone else here) want to meet up in the DC area, just send me private message

Thanks! I think they just forgot. They were moving back to their old location and then there was the added mess with my medical docs (ended up doing my interview without them... long story ) But I got all the fees paid and am now safe and sound in VA!

Feel free to PM me as well! I'll be busy doing nothing for a while so I'm up for meeting up with anyone and everyone around

Visa in hand and ready to go! FINALLY!!

So do I pay the ELIS fee before or after POE? They didn't say anything about it at any point, and if they gave me instructions they're in the sealed envelope and obviously can't open that

Things are finally moving along. Had my medical done by Dr. Borgstrom last week. All in all a good experience - the doctor and all the nurses were very friendly, and most importantly, understanding of my fear of needles

My original interview date was Dec 8th, but I was able to get it rescheduled for Nov 19th So will I have to pay any fees at or prior to the interview? If I've learned anything during this process is not to believe anything they say on any of their websites

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you!! I noticed that you got your cc on 17th. When did your AOS changed to n/a? Is it just now? Im a 27th Aug scan and my portal doesn't change yet. I'm afraid to call, I don't wanna hear that 60 days stuff lol

Thanks! So glad I'm done stalking the ceac website! Mine changed on the 17th, and my spouse called to confirm. They said it had just been reviewed, so my AOS must have changed pretty much immediately. But that may not be the case for everyone. Any day now!

You had checklist? And that date was last scan for checklist? Did u get less than 60 days response

I had a checklist which was scanned on Sept 12th and got a CC a month later. I think they went by my IV scan date (Aug 14) and went ahead and reviewed everything I had sent all at once.

Yay! Got a case complete last week! Even though I don't have an interview date yet, I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for the medical already. Apparently you're supposed to bring 6 passport photos now And I'm assuming these are the costly US ones

Me too. I am the 29th Aug. hopefully this coming week which will still put us in time for a December interview.

Just out of interest what did you have scanned in September. From your signature it looks like your last scan date was 28th Aug. I am 29th August and waiting for a CC.

Congratulations of course though.

We received an AOS checklist at the end of August, but because I realized I had sent in the wrong kind of birth certificate with my IV packet, we waited until September to respond to the checklist so I could send my new birth certificate with it. The scan date for that packet is Sept 12th.

I hope you get a CC soon! It's taken way too long for you!

Called to confirm and we have a case complete!!! So happy right now! Last scan date 9/12.

AOS fee just changed to N/A. Gonna call later to see what's up. Checklist scan date ~Sept 15. Praying for good news!

Congrats to everyone who got a CC lately! Makes me happy to see so many of them!

I'm still waiting for mine, and probably will for a while since our checklist was scanned Sept 12th. Haven't called them to confirm, but I'm guessing my IV docs (scan Aug 14th) won't be reviewed until they get to my checklist Oh well. Trying to stay positive! Should only be a month now, if no more checklists! I have a bunch of stuff scheduled for October, so hoping time will just fly by. Good luck everyone! Wanna see a bunch more August CC's today!

Another Finnish-American couple here. We're currently preparing the paperwork for I-130 and plan on sending it later this month. Exciting, and also a little scary .

Welcome and good luck with your journey! It's not scary, just a pain If you have any questions about it at least you have a bunch of people here who have already gone through it

My Mom had a copy of my old vaccination card and I had gotten some shots at the university, so I went to university health care with my old vaccination card and they filled an international vaccination card for me. They also gave me a tetanus booster.

That's good! Maybe I should go get a tetanus booster as well, since I think it's been over 10 years since my last shot.

So what kind of documentation are you supposed to bring with you to the medical? I'm mainly concerned with my vaccination records, as I only have them up until 1999. I know I got something after that, cause I was still in school and they def stuck a needle or two in me, but I'm not sure where I'd be able to get the documentation for it. I also got shots for school in the states, but the place I got them at is no longer in business. Oy...

Oh cool! Do you have any specific universities in mind? One of the reasons I applied for a PhD position in Helsinki was that I didn't have to take the GRE or pay any tuition, latter being the bigger issue. And my advisor was okay with me being in the U.S most of the writing process. I'm writing a multidisciplinary dissertation on film adaptions of certain novels. Should keep me occupied after we move

I've narrowed it down to about 10 universities :joy:The programs I'm applying to all offer full 5-year funding to all incoming students, so I won't have to worry about tuition if I get in. Obviously, though, these programs are highly competitive... but we'll see how it goes! My plan B is to get a second Master's if things don't work out now, and then try again.

Good luck with your dissertation! I kinda wanna read it now, so let me know when it's done

Yup, small town (more like a village I suppose) in the middle of nowhere was not my kind of place. Especially since it's right next to a methane plant...

Which field are you in, if you don't mind me asking? I just started my PhD studies at the University of Helsinki, and I plan on continuing writing my dissertation after we move.

I'm finishing up my MA in English Philology now, and then looking to get a PhD in the States. Not looking forward to taking the GRE though What field are you in?

For current income, it kinda has to be an estimate as there's no tax forms yet. And it's not how much will be earned by the end of the year, it's how much is being made CURRENTLY, as of RIGHT NOW.

To calculate it, if you're salary, put the current amount. Otherwise, calculate how much you're currently making a year by doing: current hourly wage x hours worked per week x weeks worked in a year (typically 52). Then put that amount.

Ok cool! Thank you so much! I worded it a little funny, but basically meant the same thing My spouse's current monthly income is currently basically the same it has been for the last 8 months. So we were just basically gonna take the number from the most recent pay check stating what has already been made this year, calculate what has been made on average per month (the hours are the same, but commission varies), and then add that for the last four months of the current year. But then lowballing the final figure slightly.

Well, on all our tax transcripts we've gotten, it says at the top which tax form was filed. She has the tax return transcripts, correct? Ask her to take a picture of the top and send it to you. Maybe you'll be able to find it

It says near the top of each tax transcript what tax form was filed

Thanks. That's what I said! But my spouse SWEARS there is no such thing, and I don't have the paperwork in front of me. Oy... Ok now it's there. Aaaand now it's not there. I got mad and said I wanted nothing to do with this Apparently NOWHERE does it say which form was used, which I find hard to believe. And now my spouse says "I'm just gonna guess and you're just gonna have to learn to live with it."

Ok figured out the answer to my previous question. Now I'm wondering where we could find out which form (1040/1040A/1040EZ) was filed, because of course my spouse has no recollection of even filing taxes ever... Anyone know? I'm freaking out. My spouse totally messed up the last I-864 and is about to do it again...

Quick question, cause my spouse is clueless when it comes to filling out the I-864EZ. In part 19. Federal income tax information, do we put the adjusted gross or the gross income for the last three years?