GJF

14 minutes ago, PositiveThinker said:

I have a question. So how long did it extend it for? I know it says 18 months but is it from the GC expiration date or from the I551 stamp date? Because i am also experiencing a similar situation. upon getting my i551 stamp they took my expired GC and i also need to travel internationally in the next month or so.. 

It extends for 18 months, and I assume they take into consideration the date of the original Green Card (because apparently they are sending these new letters regardless of you having a I551 stamp or not). This means that, according to this letter, I had 12 (that already passed) + 6 more months in which I can use this to prove my status.

HOWEVER the I551 stamp itself that I got a couple weeks ago is valid for 12 months... I know, very confusing.

Hi everyone. I would like to ask if anyone encountered a similar situation and ask a couple questions.

I applied for removal of conditions in JUN 2017 and at that time I received my first I 797 in about 2 weeks and I had biometrics done in about 4 weeks.

Like 2 weeks ago I went to a local USCIS field office to get a I551 stamp in my passport because I may have to travel overseas for vacation. My GC was retained at that occasion (standard procedure according to the USCIS officer). The I551 stamp that the officer put there mentions being valid for a year or so.

Now, a year after the application and pretty much three weeks after visiting the field office, I am pretty much surprised to see in the mail a second form I 797 which says that "Your conditional status has been extended for 18 months from the expiration date on your form I-551, Permanent Resident Card". It also says that "This notice, presented with your expired Permanent Residency Card, is proof of your status"... but I obviously don't have a physical card anymore because the physical green card was retained by the USCIS officer when I went there for the I-551 stamp.

I know that legally the I-551 stamp is pretty much a Green Card, however I imagine my headache trying to explain this to an airline employee for instance, because the I-797 notice says "Your expired Permanent Resident Card", not "Your valid I-551 stamp". So now thanks to USCIS lack of clarity I am afraid to travel overseas.

I do have two questions regarding this messy situation.

1. What does the second I 797 means exactly? I did check the receipt number from this I797 online and apparently it says that "Case Was Received At My Local Office; On April, 2018 (remember that I applied a year ago), we received your Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence", this means that my case is no longer in Vermont (where it was supposed to be in the first place)? Additionally, the receipt number I was checking before (the one from the biometrics notice) still says the information from last year "Case Was Received
On June, 2017, we received your Form CRI-89, Petition to Remove Conditions of Permanent Resident Status Received". Which number should I be checking regularly, the one from the biometrics notice from one year ago or the one from this new I797? I am very confused at this point.

2. Second question is: Has anyone traveled overseas with the I-551 stamp and no physical green card whatsoever (because it was retained when obtaining the I551)? If so, did you have any trouble with the airline staff? I heard reports of people being denied boarding and things like that. I don't want my vacation to become a headache.

Thank you all guys.

Hi CookieCat, thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it.

Hi ladies and gentleman. I am about to send my ROC application soon and I have a couple of questions (some of them may sound silly, but I was not able to find a clear answer for them anywhere).

1. What kind of envelope should I use? One of these yellow office envelopes is fine (example click here)?

2. What is the most recommended way to keep the pages together? According to their recommendations, they just don`t want staples and they are fine with holes or heavy duty clips. However, any ideas about which one they prefer, the holes (like this) or the black heavy-duty clips (like this)? I do have a 2-hole punch device and acco fasteners, if I use this method, should I make holes on every piece of paper, including the cover letter and the form I751 itself, or just the annex evidence? For some reason, I am afraid to send them a form with holes on it. An I overthinking this?

3. What exactly do people mean generically by tax returns? What is the number of the form that has to be sent? Just the 1040 or anything else (1040es, 1040v, 8879)?

Thank you all in advance.

Yes you`ll need the EAD for the NJ driver`s license.

What you can do if your finances allow you is rent a car every time you need it (you can do that legally with your UK license and passport). Or if both parts are comfortable you can also buy a car in the name of your fiancee/husband/wife (it cannot be in your name, because you need a NJ driver`s license to register the vehicle in your name).

It is a very annoying situation to be, specially during the winter. Your timeline is similar to mine. I had the longest 3 months of my life here in NJ waiting for this during the winter. It was depressing but I survived.

Good luck and wish you a happy marriage.

You are wrongly presuming that the consular officer changed his mind after the interview.

There are other checks and if they come back negative after the interview, then the visa can not be issued even with a preliminary yes at the interview. This is why the U.S. embassy advises not to make plans until the visa is in hand.

You are once again using the legal standpoint. I'm questioning the moral standpoint.

If the officer said that the visa would be approved and the person did not get the visa there are only two possibilities regarding the officer's moral behavior:

He changed his mind

He lied (because since the beginning he knew the process and he knew that it could not be approved)

Neither are acceptable. And the second tends to be even worse than the first one because it gives the person false reassurance.

In Brazil at least the US consulate acts in a "pass-fail" fashion regarding any kind of visa. If they tell you that you are approved, you are approved.

Seems like terrible practice for me the officer changing his mind after retaining the person's passport. That should not be acceptable by any means and should not be considered normal. It does not matter if it is written somewhere in the consulate-embassy or USCIS terms or not. Something being legal does not mean it is moral.

In a philosophical way, I'm really afraid of a society that does not question something like that. It is like admitting that everything the government do is ok just because is the government doing it. We should remember that USA itself was created by people that questioned excessive abuse of power and bureaucracy by the britain government.

So yes, you should complain. Not because you are likely to get a refund (you are not), or because they are going to change their mind (they probably will not). You should complain because it is the right thing to do.

GREEN was mailed today! We will see how fast it gets to us!

Just got mine in the mail. That was pretty quick for USCIS standards in less than 10 days they produced the card, sent to me and I received it, all that with a holiday in the middle. I'm impressed.

I'm not being judgemental at all, just doing a simple exercise of logics:

If you intent to marry someone, it is suposed to be the love of your life.

If you never met that person physically, the reasonable thing would be doing that before the marriage decision.

If you cannot take some time off to visit the person that you think is the love of your life, that is a HUGE red flag.

An immigration official would never aproved a visa to him or her in that situation, not even a tourist visa. The officer wants to see a solid relationship.

Unfortunatelly, USCIS does not have a "Dating Visa". It has a Tourist Visa or a Fiancee Visa. The first is for tourism, the second is for someone that wants to get married. If you are dating or engaged and try to get the Tourist visa you are probably going to be denied, because they know your intentions might be different from the ones that the visa was made for. So your best choice and the reasonable thing to do is applying straight to the K1 visa. But for that it is important that you provide more evidence of your relationship.

The reasonable thing to do if you are really interested is you going there. If your job is that bad that does not allow you 5 days off, consider getting another job.

If you cannot fly all the way there, try to visit some country in between. Met the person, take pictures together.

Do a lot of cases get interview waivers?

Before this topic, the forum had 2 other topics with 300 pages each.

So yes, the NPIWC is getting very common. Looking at the timelines and the topics, I think more than half of the people that applyed in the end of last year and in the beggining of this year got one.

In my opinion that's basically a way that USCIS uses to give itself more time to process the cases. The NPIWC letter is being used as a delay tool.

Looks like the only centers that still does many interviews and process things in a more reasonable time are the California ones.

Just received the welcome notice.

I was a little frustrated after I got the NPIWC, but it is good to see that some of the NPIWCs are being processed in a more reasonable way and I did not needed to wait another 6 months and do another pointless medical.

A question for the people that got the NOPIWC and are reaching almost one year of NOA:

Are you waiting for the USCIS to sent an RFE for the new medical + vaccination or you are doing the medical and giving to them before they even ask?

Regards

Got the NPIW letter today.

Considering the size of this topic (and the previous one) and the small number of GCs approved on the timeline in the past 6 months, looks like for USCIS giving this letter is more the rule than the exception.

Thank you for sharingCHarvey80

I realized that the MVC people act like Patty and Selma from The Simpsons since I arrived, they just don't mind about being polite. I can understand because there's probably a lot of people that go there to try to get a license whitout being able to, and they are basically following weird unpractical laws that they don't createad.

But what is definetely a pain, as you said, is that someone that legally entered the country cannot get a legal driving document. And if you don't drive in a little city like mine, you are basically a prisoner, specialy in the winter (using a bicycle on the snow and under 32 degrees is not a pleasant experience). So anything that I could do to speed the process would be helpful.

Reading the 6-point brochure they say that you have to present at least one primary document, and the EAD card is considered a primary document. So at least in theory the passport is not mandatory if you have an EAD. But theory and practice are very different, and that's why I would like to hear more experiences.

I went with everything, but he needed only the passport, the I-94 and the application. He looked at the birth certificate just because I said I had it, but if I did'nt it was probably not a problem either.

Thank you all for the help.

Hi.

I'm a K1 Visa Holder, already married, already applied and waiting for AOS/EAD/AP/GC and about to receive the SSN in the next days.

The New Jersey MVC/DMV (and I bet in many other states) acts in a kind of ridiculous way because despite I'm being legal here, they'll not let me get a driver's license with the K1-Visa only, even if I have enough documents to prove the 6 points ID verification. I did some research in the forum and I found some old topics about this same issue.

My question, for someone that's having or had a recent experience in this specific state is: If I go to the MVC after I get the EAD, whitout the passport, present the EAD (as a primary ID) with the SSN, and my marriage certificate, can I get a driver's license, or they'll annoy me anyway asking for my passport saing that I need to wait until the end of the AOS process? I read this recommendation in another topics from years ago, but I did not saw any real recent experience about it actually working nowadays.

Appreciate the help.

Regards.

I'm still single and our plan is to get my SSN before the marriage (because some people say that after is slower or whatever, anyway I need it because I want the local driver's license).

I have a birth certificate and official translation, I hope it will be enough. Also will carry my college diploma (and of. translation) just in case.

Hello.

I read the Step by step for SSN and there it's saying that to apply for a SSN is necessary:

1.The SS-5 form you downloaded and filled out (they have some at the office if you forget).

2.your Passport (with the K-1 Visa in it)

My question regards number 4.

Considering I'm obviously not from USA, and I don't have any form of USA ID (for a driver's license here in NJ we need the SSN first), what else would they accept as extra ID besides the passport itself?

Regards

Thank you all.

Hello!

Here in Brazil at least you need both.

I've already gotten my packet 4 and that's what it says.

Trust this list and nothing else! http://portuguese.brazil.usembassy.gov/pt/fiancee2.html

Good luck

Thanks. I was confused because there's some different information in another website.

Let me know about your interview.

Mine will be late november/early december probably (NOA2 september 12).

Good luck for we all.

Regards. Obrigado.

Hello.

I'm making this topic because I found conflicting information about the forms I'm supposed to fill for the interview.

Here in VJ you say that I'm supposed to fill and bring the form DS-260 barcode to the interview ( http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Brazil&cty=Rio%20De%20Janereiro )

But on this page ( http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/family/fiance-k-1.html ) they recommend the form DS-160.

In my embassy website, on the other hand, they say I don't need either, they recomend a form called DS-230I. ( http://brazil.usembassy.gov/interview/forms-for-fiancee-visas/order-of-documents-for-the-interview---fiancee.html )

So what I'm supposed to do ?

Regards

Oh my god...noa2! No rfe! It came at 11:02!

Congratulations !!!

Very happy for you,

...still nothing. I have a semi new job starting Monday (new store) so...maybe good news Monday? I'm so sick of waiting...and I'm really freaking depressed. We are so close & just...nothing. It hurts.

Thank you for all the support and words in the beggining of this topic. Our dates are close, so I was always waiting for your progress as well.

I'm pretty sure it's going to happen for you soon. I have a good feeling about it.

Uhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

"On September 12, 2014, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283."

And we are a same sex couple, just to tell everyone in the same position to not lose the hope.

Is there any chance that the people that are calling them are getting approved quicker?

Congratulations everybody.

I'm still waiting.