Shadaryia

My husbands AOS papers were mailed Friday and I got the text today saying USCIS received his package and gave us his receipt #.  
I immediately put that number in the case tracker app I downloaded on my cell phone and now will be watching it like a hawk!    
I don’t want us to miss anything, like his biometrics appointment.

Thursday evening we met with our immigration attorney and finally after 7 years filed/applied for my husband to get his green card.  AOS package was mailed to USCIS Friday 10/22/2021.   We had to move 2550 cross country for me to make enough yearly to sponsor him and then saved up the money for the lawyer and immigration fees.  Now we wait and pray USCIS approves us after the green card interview that should take place 10 or 11 months from now or so…. I’m nervous to say the least.

I finally have all the money needed to file my husbands papers.  Yesterday we started the process and we met with a long standing, very experienced immigration attorney that has been practicing in the area for a  long time, but he surprised me when he didn’t initially plan to submit relationship proof pictures in with the

i-485/i-130/i-864  and said pictures can be shown at the interview. He normally just submits things like joint bank account statements etc.     I had brought relationship pictures prepared and asked if he could include them because I wanted to give immigration a complete evidence filing package from the start.   I do not want to wait until the interview to show pictures of proof to “fight”  our case then cause we both suffer from anxiety and are super nervous about the interview.  We will of course bring more pictures for the interview, recent bank statements etc  just want to give a complete presentation up front.    He agreed to include the pictures I brought along with our other proof, like car title in our names, car insurance  etc.   We will meet with the lawyer again in 2 weeks.

 In the interim,  We need to go get the necessary  passport photos, most recent pay stubs  and our current joint bank account statements.  
 

I am super nervous and scared.  It’s very hard for me to trust anyone at all, especially with something so important and I pray it gets done correctly and things go well.   
 

2 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I don’t think you need to add fear of the IRS coming after you. You have enough stress on your plate trying to finally do the right thing about immigration and save up your money to pay for it. The IRS won’t “come after” poor people when they could spend the same resources to go after wealthy tax evaders. You can get straight with the IRS later. 

Thank you for your kind words!  I often regret posting on VisaJourney because I often feel attacked.  You have brightened my day! You are very appreciated!    I am truly doing my best.  Yes, I have made a lot of mistakes over the last 7 years but I am truly trying to fix it all.  Money is a huge factor unfortunately.     Thanks again and have a wonderful day  ❤️ 

Thanks everyone for the replies, very appreciated. 

Good day everyone!     I am still trying to get everything prepared to file AOS for my spouse.   We went to a tax preparer last week and decided not to amend my 2020 taxes and apply for him to get an ITIN because we were going to owe almost $4000 to the IRS because my spouse does not have a SSN (I filed head of household and will lose earned income credits etc)    So now I am trying to decide per the tax advisor advice to file head of household again for 2021 and then once my spouse gets his SSN amend my 2019, 2020 and 2021 taxes.   She advised against the ITIN with hopes of him getting a SSN in time.   My worries are whether he will get his SSN before the Green card interview so we will have time to amend those 3 tax returns to married filing jointing.    I really don't know what is best.   I am getting conflicting advice and just do not want to do anything wrong that will jeopardize our case.   Other option is to file 2021 taxes together as married filing jointing and apply for him to get his ITIN at that time which will take months.    Tax advisor says she has seen people get their SSN before the ITIN and then it was a waste of money. 

We are based out of the Portland, OR USCIS office.  If anyone has experience regarding this, your input is greatly appreciated 😃  Thanks! 

On 8/28/2021 at 3:45 PM, Skyman said:

Sent in the I-485/ I-864 last December. I'm retired military and don't get a W-2 and didn't have tax transcripts so I sent in the annual 1099-R statements and my  own copies of tax filings. The 1099-Rs show plenty of income. We received no RFE for further documentation. We have our interview in a month and the appointment letter is a form letter so requesting the same as anyone else gets.  So, I 'm assuming they're happy with what I sent. Am I fine with just bringing the same stuff although with one additional 1099-R for last year and maybe this last month's pay statement showing the year's pay so far?

 

I am new to all of this but for me I would bring what I already submitted when filing to the interview as well as any new income like the last month's pay statement you mentioned.  I printed my paystubs for the last 8 months so far just because I am anxious.   I wish you the best! 

3 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

I don't see a fishing license on the "B" list.  How do they verify that factual information is on a fishing license?  

Sadly this is true, a fishing license is not listed on the B list but someone said their husband was having the same problem mine was and presenting a WA state fishing license worked for them to get his WA ID, so we are going to give it a try.  All they can do it tell us no and we go home and try, try again...  They are not charging us or making us pay a fee for them to tell us no,  so what can we lose? and maybe someone might be kind and give us a break and say yes     I am also hoping to maybe get a copy of our marriage application in the interim that shows my husbands signature on it before the DMV appointment. 

16 hours ago, Skyman said:

Ok, yes, sorry. Meant TN.

After our failed DMV appointment on Wednesday, I immediately called the Shelby county courthouse in Memphis TN and told them I needed something that showed my husbands signature.   The very nice lady I spoke to sent me an email with a pdf of an application I was able to print, fill out and mail off to Vital records in Nashville TN requesting a copy of our marriage application, in which she says should show our signatures.   Now the application I printed out says it is a request for a certified copy of our marriage certificate.  In TN the marriage license and marriage certificate are one in the same apparently,  so I included a cover letter stating I needed a copy of our marriage application  that showed our signatures and included a copy of my ID and a money order for $30.00 wanting 2 copies.   Now I just pray they send me something back with his signature and not just 2 more certified copies of our marriage license that we already have...  ~Praying and Crosses fingers~

9 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Washington State grants drivers licenses to state residents without regard to immigration status.

When we went to my husband's appointment this last Wednesday in Vancouver, WA we brought his Certified birth certificate from the UK, his current active British passport, our certified marriage license,  expired i-94,  and our current electric bill.   These documents were not enough.  They want proofs of identity off the part B list  https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/idproof.html#identity     So their problem is his i-94 is expired (2015) and our marriage license does not show his signature.    So to them we only had 2 of the documents out of the 4 they require.   I begged and pleaded and even asked to speak with the supervisor who said the same thing.   We went there  with high hopes of getting my immigrant spouse a WA ID to help our immigration case but left in tears.   I am happy for ya'll that your spouse didn't have trouble getting his ID but that was sadly not that case for us. Maybe some employees at the WA DMV are more lenient/nicer than others?   Also my husband is from the UK yes, born in London but he is Turkish with a foreign middle eastern name;  I wonder if the employee held that against him in his mind?    Who knows.   Since that failed appointment  I have gotten  my spouse a WA fishing license that has his name, DOB, address, and signature on it (all they things they say they want) and made another appointment at the WA DMV at a different location in Vancouver, WA and I pray that may work as proof of identity.    I made the appointment for 2 weeks from now hoping I may also get a copy of our marriage application that shows his signature on it too.    ~Crosses fingers and prays fervently~ 

1 hour ago, Skyman said:

It seems like WA should have some official documentation of your marriage with your signatures.  What stops one of you from saying you didn't finalize the marriage so you're not really married and you're leaving? 

We were married in the state of Tennessee so the state of WA will not have a record of our marriage on hand.  I have written Vital records in Nashville TN to try to get our marriage application that shows our signatures. 

1 hour ago, mnewportland said:

Hi Shadaryia! I see that your field office is in Portland, OR which is also our field office! We have our AOS interview in September and we've been married for over 2 years. If you can afford doing the medical now; then by all means I would recommend that. We didn't do the medical form when we filed, honestly didn't make sense because of our insurance at the time and our financial situation which has since improved because I've been working with my EAD. I'm now finishing the Medical form and tomorrow I have my last appointment with the civil surgeon. We'll keep you updated on how our interview goes since yours will probably be in the same office! We're also wishing you the best in this process!

I wish you the very best!  😃   Keep us posted! xx

4 hours ago, Letspaintcookies said:

A Power of Attorney. You can do that for each other and it will be great evidence for the AOS even if it doesn't work for getting an ID. Same goes for living wills. Also probably has more weight than an ID for address purposes. 

Thank you   

1 hour ago, Jorgedig said:

My husband was able to get a Washington DL without a problem, long before AOS.  Not sure why OP is having such trouble.

They are requiring 4 proofs of identification, Part B from this list https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/idproof.html#identity   We went to a Vancouver WA DMV.     We only have 2 pieces of proof since my husbands i-94 is expired by 6 years and they will not accept our Tennessee marriage license/certificate because it doesn't have my husbands signature.   I wasn't expecting them to be so hard on us.  I even asked for the supervisor but in the end left there in tears.  I got my spouse a WA fishing license that has a lot of identifying information on it and have made another appointment for him at the WA DMV and this time picked a different office.  ~Crosses fingers~   Maybe the Vital Records in Nashville TN will also respond to my request for a copy of our marriage application that shows his signature. 

1 hour ago, Wuozopo said:

I think sharing your money in a joint bank account is bigger evidence than showing same address at this point. I applaud your efforts to get everything in order and go for the greencard. Other things will begin to fall in place so you will have more by the interview. Getting an EAD will open the door for SSN, which will open the doors for joint taxes, lease, state ID, ETC. 

Thank you! You are appreciated

14 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

The problem is her husband is an overstay for a number of years and doesn’t have the documentation that would serve as WA’s one stand-alone proof, or even two List A documents. So it they are forced to finding four things from List B. At this moment in time, with no immigration status from USCIS, I’m surprised that Washington state ID or driving license is even remotely possible. No SSN, no visa, I-94 is expired, no EAD or greencard, has never had a driver license in US or UK….

 

@Shadaryia If your goal is to get a joint checking account, then talk to your bank about filling out the W8-BEN which is for foreign nationals. Or go to another bank and do W8-BEN. Without a SSN, that’s the accepted path to a US account.  Then you have a joint bank account to use as evidence when you do the concurrent I-130/I-485 filing. 
 

I am very happy to say that we did find a bank that will do the w8 to open a joint checking account for us.  We have an appointment this Tuesday.   We were just still hoping to get the WA ID because it would show us having matching IDs with the same address.  I can't add my spouse to the lease here because he doesn't have a SSN 

20 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

did u have a Tn DL after marriage here

My spouse has never had a driver license anywhere unfortunately.  All he has is his birth certificate and UK passport. 

6 minutes ago, Lorin123 said:

We were also planing on waiting on the medical, our packet was ready to go but after I got that email we thought it maybe better to submit the medical at the same time rather than wait just in case , plus I did see somewhere there is a backlog so I'd rather just submit it all at once 

Sounds like giving them everything they could possibly want in the beginning could possibly be a good idea ~ Food for thought for sure!  I wish you the very best 😃

4 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

 

https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/edlproof.html

They are putting my spouse under the Part B category so they would not accept the electric bill as proof of identity.   Oh believe me, I tried to give it to them. 

https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/idproof.html#identity

This is what they said they want: 

Documents that establish your name and date of birth

• Adoption papers
• Birth certificate, U.S., or foreign*) — Certified
• Birth registration card, your card must include your name, date of birth, place of birth, file date, and issue date — Certified
• Concealed weapons permit issued by a Washington county — Valid
• Consular Report of Birth Abroad
• Foreign Driver License or ID card, valid or expired not more than 6 years
• Foreign Passport, expired not more than 6 years
• NEXUS, SENTRI, or FAST border crossing card — Valid
• U.S. Merchant Mariner's card, valid or expired not more than 6 years
• U.S. Military DD Form 214
• U.S. passport, expired more than 1 year (an emergency passport isn't acceptable)
• U.S. passport card, expired more than 1 year
• U.S. state or territory issued Driver License, ID Card, or photo Instruction Permit, expired more than 6 years
• Veteran Administration Identification, with date of birth
• Ward of the Court decree/Order of Dependency

Documents that show name and date of birth or signature or photo

• Clearance letter or driving record from another state's DMV, issued in the last 30 days
• Divorce decree, certified by the issuing government authority
• Government employee ID card (state of federal), with signature and photo
• Marriage license/certificate, certified by the issuing government authority
• Medicare card (not a DSHS medical card)
• Police employee ID card issued by Washington city or county
• Professional license (nurse, physician, engineer, etc.)
• School record from Mexico with seal and picture of individual at age of issue
• School transcript or record, or Forms I-20 or DS-2019 for foreign exchange students
• School yearbook or copy certified by the school with recognizable photo
• Selective Service card
• Social Security card
• Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
• Veteran Administration Identification, with photo

And we do not have 4 at this time. 

22 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

4 proofs of identity? That's ridiculous. Thinking a bit outside the box here... could you draft a POA ( which is also a pretty good evidence of your happy marriage ) and get that notarized? Would they accept that as proof of identity if somebody else notarized your husband's signature on the POA and declared he is who he is... I don't know, just thinking 😂

What is a POA?   Thx!

28 minutes ago, Skyman said:

Why didn't he sign the MC?

We signed the marriage application.  Our marriage license doesn't show our signatures.   The WA state DMV wants to see my husband's signature as proof of identity.  

5 minutes ago, Lorin123 said:

Thank you for that information.

You are very welcome 😃   I am also wondering now if we should do the medical now after seeing this post and submit the i-693 with the i-485, i-864, i-130 and i-765.   I do not want to receive any RFE's       I want to submit a very well put together packet initially to hopefully make the whole process go smoother. 

7 minutes ago, Lorin123 said:

I had chickenpox when I was 16 years old and I had a Tuberculosis vaccine as a child , I don't think I had MMR vaccine though . The Dr I have an appointment with said she doesn't do the vaccines either so I'm glad to hear Walmart is cheaper.

My Walmart pharmacy is cheaper for the Tdap than the price the civil surgeon quoted me here in Vancouver, WA but not for the MMR.  My boss (pharmacy manager) told me the MMR  comes in a series of 3,  where the civil surgeon said they will just give one shot of the MMR for them to sign the i-693. 

15 hours ago, mnewportland said:

I'm doing my medicals now and it all depends on how old are you and which season we're in just for the flu season. 

I did get all these vaccines back in my home country but I have no record of them, so I had to get the required vaccines all over again. I only needed 3 vaccines only. 

 

- MMR 

- Varicella 

- Tdap 

 

That's all that's needed for someone who's older than 17/18 years old and younger than 60/65. You also need the flu shot if you're doing your medicals in that flu seasons (October to March). Most if not all insurance policies cover these immunizations as they're essential minimum protection coverage (which was added under Obama Care) So they should be COMPLETELY FREE! The civil surgeon visit itself is self-pay and won't be covered by an insurance. However if you get the vaccines done in a pharmacy, or with the civil surgeon using your insurance that should cut the cost dramatically. I could have done these medicals for $200 but I did it for $450 for the convenience of their availability in the weekend and being close to us so I didn't need to take any time off or to drive to them! They also include the X-ray in that base price. 

 

Good luck!

I also was told my husband would just need those 3 immunizations.   They told us he didn't need the Varicella if he says he has had the chicken pox.  We are going to get his Tdap at my work (Walmart pharmacy) because it is cheaper than the civil surgeons price and just have the civil surgeon do the MMR.  😃   

Just now, Lemonslice said:

Are you looking for an ID, or proof of residence?

My bank, Wells Fargo is requiring my spouse to have a WA state ID as proof of residency.  They will not accept the electric bill that shows his name on it either.  In order for my husband to get a WA state ID, the WA DMV wants 4 proofs of identification which we do not have at this time.   It is a vicious circle and a very frustrating situation to say the least.    I have found another bank that said they will let us open an account with a W8 and his National insurance number.  We have an appointment this Tuesday and hope we actually get to open a checking account together but we still want the WA state ID because that is another proof to USCIS that we are in a real marriage because it will show our address to be the same.  I can't add my spouse to the lease here because he doesn't have a SSN so the matching ID's would be very helpful.