mallafri76

I seriously doubt USCIS monitors text messages being sent, especially considering the amount of people immigrating to the US every year. They can't even keep track of the millions of illegals in the US so I doubt they have the time to read a legal immigrant's text messages.
With that said, your friend should be careful what she puts in writing. If someone brings that text message to USCIS' attention, it might look very bad on her. If your friend entered the marriage in good faith, she can remove conditions on her own.

I watched a program about American mass incarceration. They were talking about how penpals help the inmates keep a link to the outside world. Thought it would be nice to help someone out so I went online, liked my husband's add and sent him a letter, thinking we'd write a letter or two a month. Six and a half years, 18 visits to the US and thousands of calls and emails later, I am in the US preparing for his release.   Love knows no boundaries.
 
He is in prison for drugs. When I immigrated, he had 10 years left to serve. Thanks to President Obama's clemency, we're now down to three, maybe even just two years left.  

Congratulations. I just got my visa last week so our visa journey is over. And we're living proof that it's definitely possible to immigrate with the USC in prison.

My husband is in prison too. I filled out the I-130 on the computer, put together all the back up and then sent it to him to sign and send to USCIS. On the last page of the I-130, you can fill out if someone other than the petitioner filled out the form. Our I-130 petition was approved within the standard 5 months roughly, no RFEs. Just make sure to send plenty of pictures, including of you meeting his family, plus passport stamps/tickets from your trip over. My husband's aunt will be our joint sponsor and she wrote an affidavit about the bona fidas of our marriage including that she will be our joint sponsor, which we included in our I-130.
Please feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about immigrating with spouse in prison.

Just got my appointment for biometrics. 6 months after filing.
 
Anyone know how long is the wait between biometrics and interviews at San Antonio office?

Accounting and HR are those line of professions that are very hard for foreigners without US work experience and/or degree to get because they involve knowing rules, regulations and laws specific to the US, your state and sometimes even your city limits.
 
i know you’re in a small city but I would look for a workplace that may allow you to grow into an accounting role; store, hotel etc. Where you can start in a customer service role or similar and gradually move over to the accounting department and start gaining US accounting knowledge and experience.
 
If that’s not an option and you’re going for the factories, I say go out there and speak to them. Ask if they’re hiring and fill out an application. 
 
Good luck with your job hunt.

Golden Me, I replied to your PM but I wanted to share my experience on the forum too,for others in a similar situation. JFH, thank you for putting Golden Me and I in contact.
 
Four years ago, I successfully immigrated to the US with my husband still in prison. He’s due to be released in a few months. 😃

No doubt, you have more to “prove” and you’ll most likely get a few more questions with the US spouse in prison but as long as you can show that you’re in a bonafide relationship, they have no excuse to deny you.
 
They will look for visits, pictures and correspondence. Know your spouse’s criminal history, they will ask you. And don’t be surprised if they’ll ask specific information from emails or visitations you’ve had. My husband’s in federal, so it might be different with your spouse in state prison, but at my interview, the consular officer had copies of our emails and visitation logs from his prison. 
 
I can’t stress enough how important the visits are in our circumstances, to prove a bonafide relationship. And remember to take pictures. I brought a photo album to my interview and the consular officer had me flip through it for him while he asked me questions.
 
To answer your question about ESTA. No, if your immigration visa is denied, you’ll most likely not be allowed to travel under ESTA. 

Good luck with your visa journey. 

You can change and/or correct almost anything at your interview. So a name change isn't an issue. They will then show you all the corrections that were made at the interview and have you sign them. 

Under the documents tab in your online account you'll find a link that says "view snapshot" or something along those lines. That's your online application in "paper form".

During your interview, I believe you will be asked again if you would want a name change. 
 
If you log into your account, there’s a box there where it says, show my case in a snapshot. Try if that will show your application then print it right away. I was able to view mine once and forgot to print it. The next times I tried viewing it, it was showing as errors. 

Hi all,
Here’s my interview experience at the Boston office.
First, the agent asked my name, address, how I received the green card (and what date I received the green card), wife’s name, her birthday, child, and so on.
 
Second, the civics and history test, reading/writing test.
What is the “rule of law”?
Who makes federal laws?
What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
What is freedom of religion?
The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
How many amendments does the Constitution have?
 
Then, the agent asked me why I want to become a U.S. citizen, and asked about my education background in the US, and what I’m exactly doing at work. Then, went through all those yes/no questions. Then asked me about the meaning of “full allegiance to the U.S.” . Then later I heard that I passed the interview. Unfortunately, the same day oath wasn't available, so I'm waiting for the oath schedule.
 
I think that the interview was little tougher than expected as all these took around 30 mins, and I got asked on every aspect that I could think of. I think that it all depends on what agent you get to have interview with. My suggestion is to (1) study what you put in your n400 application, (2) see those youtube videos (interview simulation video) (those helped me a lot), (3) youtube videos on the n400 words
 
Plus, if you’re in Boston, be sure to arrive and park in the nearby parking at least one hour before, or even earlier if you can. In my case, there was much traffic, it was raining, and the parking place was full, so I had to park little far and walk to the building, almost missing the interview time (I wasn’t late but I was extremely stressed out in doing so).
 
Good luck everyone !

Thank you for sharing this....that has to be tough, to be denied for being one day too early to file. 😭
 
I feel like this post needs to be pinned. It's really important and a simple mistake that anyone could easily make.

There have been a lot of issues reported lately with attachments and files not loading or saving when filing the N-400 online. Although the official instructions say that the online form works in most browsers, it works best in Internet Explorer.
 
If you have issues uploading or saving attachments/files, try again with Internet Explorer. For best results, consider filling out the entire form using IE. Sometimes other browsers such as Chrome or Firefox do work, but Internet Explorer is the one that will never fail.
 
If you fill out your N-400 online and realize your attachments did not save, re-upload them later to the Documents > Unsolicited Information > Upload Documents section. Make sure all of your uploads are visible under the Documents tab.

It sounds like she had an administrative ceremony not a judicial ceremony. That means she did not do a legal name change. Did she just change her name to take her spouse's last name, to revert to her maiden name, or to hyphenate the two names? If so, then she can use a marriage or divorce certificate as proof of her new name.
So:
1- What change did she request?
2- Does her naturalization certificate show the new name?

I thought this might help those of us considering a legal name change.
The N400 application is (in most cases) a great time to legally change your name. It's fast and it's free. Outside of the N400 process, a name change requires a visit to your local courthouse, may require a public announcement in a newspaper (depending on your state and local laws) and will cost you money. In New York City, the cost is about $65 while on Houston it is over $400, so cost varies from city to city.
You can change your name to anything you want within certain limitations. You can't change your name to impersonate someone or in an attempt to hide your identity for illegal purposes. Other than that, it's up to you. If you are Arthur Robert Wilkinson, you can become Geraldo Mohamed Leibowitz.
It's important to note that if you are just changing your last name to take your spouse's last name or to revert to your maiden name, then a legal name change is not required. This is because a marriage certificate or a divorce certificate acts as proof of legal name change. This is true EVEN IF your certificate does not show the new name that you want to take. For example, if Anita Mary Harrolds marries Geraldo Mohamed Leibowitz, she can legally be known as Anita Mary Leibowitz even though that name does not appear anywhere on the certificate. In fact, she can also hyphenate both last names without a legal name change. However, if she wanted to change her middle name from Mary to Margaret, she would need a legal name change.
To request a legal name change through the naturalization process, fill out the name change section of the N400. The interviewer may ask you to confirm that you still want to change your name because some people change their minds between the application and the interview. The interviewer may ask for proof of your current legal name. In case of a discrepancy between your green card and your passport, a birth, marriage, divorce, or name change certificate determines your current name, so make sure you have these with you (if they apply in your case...it's always a good idea to have your translated birth certificate with you at the interview). The interviewer will print out some forms (three I think) for you to check and sign. These should have your old and new names on them.
You will have to be scheduled for a judicial oath ceremony. This is because USCIS does not have the legal authority to change your name and must ask a judge to do so. If your city has regular judicial ceremonies then there shouldn't be any delays. If your city holds regular administrative ceremonies, but not many judicial ceremonies, then the name change may cause a delay. Some cities (including San Francisco and San Jose) have stopped scheduling judicial ceremonies altogether. Applicants in these cities cannot legally change their names through the N400 application. Your interviewer will inform you of this and will cross out the name change section during the interview. You will have to request a regular name change before or after naturalization if you live in these cities (see above).
At your oath ceremony you will be given your naturalization certificate as well as a name change certificate signed by a judge. This second certificate will show your old and new names and you'll need it to update your name with your banks, on your drivers license, credit cards, etc. In addition to doing all the paperwork to make these changes, you'll also have to consider the effect of the name change if you have dual citizenship; your name on your two passports may not match and your other country may require you to go through different name change procedures or may not allow name changes at all. People do travel using passports with different names, but you have to be careful when booking tickets and you may want to travel with your name change certificate (and translations).
If you want to check whether or not (and how often) judicial ceremonies are held in your location, find your office here and look under naturalization ceremonies:
http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices

Golden Me, I replied to your PM but I wanted to share my experience on the forum too,for others in a similar situation. JFH, thank you for putting Golden Me and I in contact.
 
Four years ago, I successfully immigrated to the US with my husband still in prison. He’s due to be released in a few months. 😃

No doubt, you have more to “prove” and you’ll most likely get a few more questions with the US spouse in prison but as long as you can show that you’re in a bonafide relationship, they have no excuse to deny you.
 
They will look for visits, pictures and correspondence. Know your spouse’s criminal history, they will ask you. And don’t be surprised if they’ll ask specific information from emails or visitations you’ve had. My husband’s in federal, so it might be different with your spouse in state prison, but at my interview, the consular officer had copies of our emails and visitation logs from his prison. 
 
I can’t stress enough how important the visits are in our circumstances, to prove a bonafide relationship. And remember to take pictures. I brought a photo album to my interview and the consular officer had me flip through it for him while he asked me questions.
 
To answer your question about ESTA. No, if your immigration visa is denied, you’ll most likely not be allowed to travel under ESTA. 

Good luck with your visa journey. 

Just check that it's allowed in your country, it varies if they're allowed or not.

As long as he has a ssn, he should show up on a general background check. If there’s nothing there, the report will simply say something like “no criminal history”. 
 
I’ve had two jobs since moving to the US. One was about two weeks after immigrating and the background took a little longer than usual but still came back. The second one was about five months after immigrating and there were no issues or delays. 
 
You can always go into SentryLink.com and pay for a background check, just to see how it comes back. It’s like $20.

With respect to your questions - as a hiring manager this is what I would suggest.  
 
You need to make sure you're eligible to work in the US so that process has to be completed first.  
 
You should make a resume that encompasses your work experience in the desired industry in which you wish to work.  For example if your QA experience is in industrial manufacturing then include those jobs, years of employment, any particular awards or accomplishments and or promotions you received during your tenure at each employer.  Don't list irrelevant information as most hiring managers spend about a minute on any potential resume looking for key information.  If it's not there the resume goes into the rejected pile.  It's harsh but true.  
 
1) If it's just a temporary job to help make ends meet while you're working on your certificate then I wouldn't even list it.
 
2) The time period is unique to each company and type of job.  The US is a very tight job market at the moment meaning there aren't enough qualified persons to fill jobs.  We'll generally list a position for two weeks and then conduct phone screening interviews with the qualified candidates.  We'll then conduct in person interviews.  This process takes about 2 weeks.  We'll then make an offer to the person we feel is best.  Then depending on the company there may be a background check and drug screening before the new employee can start work.  
 
3) That depends on your job history - If you have 20 years of experience in QA then a certificate hurt but also won't help your opportunities for a new job.  If you have less than 5 years of experience then I'd suggest getting the certification first.  
 
4)  Most companies will work with candidates so long as you make the request during the later interview processes.  You may not be eligible for vacation pay but if a good qualified candidate asked if they could have a week off to go to their brother's wedding then I would be fine with that.   
 
Good luck!!!

If you have been married for 2 or more years at the time the visa is issued, you will get an IR-1 visa.
If you enter the US on the immigrant visa after the 2 year marriage anniversary, you will enter with IR-1 status (even if you have a CR-1 visa).
Both cases would grant a 10 year green card.
 
When you filed the petition doesn't matter.

I wanted to address the negative attitudes we have seen on the rise recently in the upper/ immigration forums towards those who ask beginner/ simple questions, or have unusually fast or slow VisaJourneys.

First, there is a tone difference between the Progress forums- which are mostly for support and cheerleading, and the Info forums, which are mostly to have questions answered.   While all our forums are supposed to be welcoming to all and friendly, this is especially important in the Progress forums, which are not to discuss politics, or be negative towards  those fortunate to have their case dealt with quickly, or  critical of those who voice sadness about their own slow progress. These forums are there to uplift eachother!

Secondly- in the info forums, you may get bad news.  When a question is asked, our members are encouraged to answer truthfully, even if this may not be what the Op wants to hear, because it is important to be informed.  However, the emphasis is still on being welcoming and friendly.  If you need to give bad news, do so gently, and stick to facts; constructive criticism of the Op's plans ARE allowed, but the emphasis is on constructive.  No need to dwell on mistakes (or tell members they should be on 90 Day Fiance- that is a personal attack and automatic suspension), or  illegal actions in the past- instead, encourage and explain legal options for the future.  And ONLY legal options- as per our TOS, VJ does not support, condone or encourage illegal (immigration) actions, and such posts will be removed.

Ultimately, we are here to help all members, old and new, easy cases and complicated, those who write a fact filled bullet point post and those who are panicking and don't make much sense in their first post. Yes, sometimes questions can be easily googled, or answered via a search of our forums.  But if you feel that way, just scroll past- no need to criticise the OP for asking the question. 

One of my VJ friends were in the same boat as your husband. He flew over on the VWP to visit his husband, denied entry at POE because CBP thought he was coming to stay and was sent back to Sweden on a later flight.
He now has his CR-1 visa and moved over to the US about two months ago. His denied entry at POE was never brought up at the interview and he didn't need any waiver so don't worry about it.

You apply for a new passport through your  country’s embassy.
 
You’re doing adjustment of status so I’m not sure what visa stamp you’re worried about? If you’ve filed for AOS, your NOA1 serves as proof of your eligibility to remain in the US. Once you get your green card, that will serve as proof of status.

From what I've read, it's a year between each step at NVC. I.e. once your approved I-130 has been transferred to NVC, you have one year to send in the choice of agent, one year to pay the AOS, one year to pay the IV and so on. You can basically drag out the NVC process for years. Resuming now after three months is fine, no problem at all.

Totally agree. Taking away parent immigration will break up families and create hardship. 

I feel sorry for you. You must have a very sad, miserable life to be so hateful and nasty. 
 
To answer your questions. No, I did not have a choice about moving to the US nor am I free to move back home, even though I would love to because the US is a really  country to live in. But my husband, who is a USC by birth (as is his parents and their parents and so on all the way back to when this continent belonged to Native Americans), has a sick mother who can’t travel or move abroad. We take care of her because that’s what real families do.
 
If we can convince my parents to move over to the US, they would live on their own. Why would you think they would live with us just because they move over to the US? They have their own money and their own life. And since they’re from Europe, they’re two healthy 70 year olds who probably cost less medically than most 30 year old Americans. Not to mention that many of the foreign parents you seem
so scared of are well off retirees who bring their wealth with them to the US and spend their foreign earned money here, in the US. They bring money into the US economy, not the other way around.