Matt_Stevens

Some good ideas here. We'll get a Duane Reade card today. Duane Reade is a mini-supermarket located all over Manhattan.

Notarizing the affidavits is a pain, but considering the situation, I am sure our friends will not mind.

We're working on the landlord situation. The person we are renting from seems nervous about the situation and has not said yes to a letter. Not sure why. My wife will talk to her tonight. We won't be able to get anything from the management company. They are not good people. Not at all. They won't fix the toilet, the sink, busted fans, etc. They suck. We are on our own here. AT least htey fix the elevator when it breaks down every few weeks.

Damulag, each state is different in regards to insurance. And in this case, my insurance is in NC. Even if I could add her (and I can't) that would work against us because we live in NY.

OK, first of all, I'm not making excuses. If something is suggested that won't work, I am going to point that out so it's no longer a talking point and we can look at something else. That's natural. And unfortunately, our case is complicated because of our current living situation.

I sent a ton of evidence earlier this year. A huge amount and never ever thought this would happen. But the nature of the letter they sent points to "gaps" and the only gap would be times we have not had a lease, like in NC. We also have no real savings, because we just don't! Life has not been easy for us. We've had some back luck.

We could not possibly rent another apartment. We have no money to put down first, last month rent and security AND we would lose the security on where we are now if we leave before March. That's a grand, just gone. What little money we have we are putting away so we can go to Vietnam in January and attend her brother's wedding. If she doesn't go, her parents will disown her. My being out of work has meant we are in dire straights. You know how bad this economy is. It's ruined us. Thank heavens Anh has a good job that is very solid.

We had no prior red flags. Nothing. Before this fiasco everything was smooth as silk. So smooth that some here were in shock at how easy it was for us. The timing of all of this is very bad. If somehow this goes very wrong, we could end up in a spot where if Anh leaves to see her brother get married, she'll not be allowed back into the country. The fact that this is happening has shattered any love Anh had for America. She thinks her home communist government is fairer and better right now and I don't blame her.

As for more evidence...

Now we did try a Gym out for a few weeks and have that application. But we canceled the membership because it was too expensive. This was in August. We've got all the paperwork, so that is something involving our current address. It's all we've got right now, other than the next bank statement that will come and the next Verizon bill.

We'll have to go to Blockbuster and sign up and get cards with our address. Silly, but it's something, as you say.

What's funny is we sent a picture of Anh with Mayor Bloomberg amongst the evidence. She met him at a function where she was there as part of a Vietnamese cultural dance troop. How many cheaters would go and meet the mayor? Unreal. Maybe I can have all the members of the dance troop sign an affidavit on our behalf? We hang out with those gals all the time.

The receipt book for our rent payment is a good idea. I'll do that today and have Anna sign back dated receipts for us.

Fair enough, but there are ways to gather evidence. It is dire if you want to succeed this. You have to think creatively and start gathering this information before it's too late. You have to file the RFE asap.

We are trying to help you with everything we can think of here.

I understand that. Please don't take offense. People keep talking about the car insurance, but that is not an option.

We don't have a Blockbuster account. We had one with Netflix, my name only, and I canceled it a few months ago.

No store cards. We had a Best Buy, but canceled it early 2008. That stuff was shredded long ago. So that's out.

I did just find the install bill and work order for Time Warner Cable in NYC, 2008, with both our names on it. Other than that, I can't find anything with both of our names.

We cannot get a NY ID without some kind of utility at our current address.

I cannot drop my NC Drivers License because I will lose my NC registration and insurance. My car is kept in NC and is rarely in NYC, where insurance rates are sky high and driving conditions way beyond what I can deal with.

Anyone know a way around the ID thing?

We can easily make copies of our NC ID's, which have the same address as our old NC bank statements. That can help with proving we lived in NC as a couple.

A prominent NYC Doctor will give us an affidavit, a strong one, but who knows if who he is will matter. He knew my wife before she came to the USA. His daughter did an exchange program and stayed with Anh's family for a month about four or five years ago. All of us are very close and when we moved to NYC we stayed at their spare studio apartment (they have money) in NYC while we looked for work and an apartment. But will any of that matter?

Anything else, I don't know. I'm out of ideas. I spent the entire day going through our entire file cabinet in search of anything that can help us.

You cannot list a person who does not drive and has no drivers license on an insurance policy. Anh has never had a license here or in Vietnam. Never. Our insurance is via The Hartford and I worked for them for years and know the rules.

Lots of good info here. Remember, Anh does not have a driver's license, so car insurance is a no-go here. Also, my driver's license is still in NC because I leave my car most of the year. I hate driving in NY. Anh's photo ID is for NC. Both our ID's have the old NC address. That's not going to be helpful to us.

One complication about the sublet is this... The girl we are paying is not on the lease either. Her rich friend is because the building management requires yearly income of 150k per person. This apartment situation is really going to kill us, I think. There is simply no way to fix the problem. It looks bad to an outsider, even though it made perfect sense for us to take the place.

I sent I think three bank statements from each account. Beginning, middle, latest/last.

The USCIS person I spoke to early this year said affidavits from family were not acceptable. But this time I will have my parents have one, notarized, stating how we lived in their in-law apartment in 2007. Maybe that will help.

We do not have joint credit cards because I do not have any credit cards at this time. None. It's a bad year for us financially.

I submitted loads of pics, but can submit more recent ones this time, but I don't think they are after that in our case.

Another complication... We had all our mail sent to NC for a time because we had trouble with thieves breaking into our box. The lock and door had to be replaced on the mail receptacle and that was only fixed recently. I am beginning to wonder if they have flagged us because of the mailing address being in NC and the home address in NY.

Tonight my wife used the F word for the first time. She has never said that word. She hates that word. I was stunned to hear it come out of her mouth, but she is screaming mad that people she knows who came here just through fraud by marrying their cousin or whatever had zero trouble going all the way to citizenship and yet we are getting shafted.

Affidavits were from the best man, who actually met Anh before she came here when he passed by Munich and saw us both for lunch. Also my two friend, Chris and Trish, who are married and met her like the second day she was in the USA. We hang with them all the time. I just called them about this and they are freaking out. Trish started crying.

Joint tax returns were right from the government. 2007 and 2008.

Bank statements from Wachovia (first and last with them) and then from Citibank (first and most recent).

Where we are staying now is a verbal agreement. Nothing is in writing. We sort of knew them and talked about it and then decided yeah, let's do it. Anh will be ten minutes from work and the rent will be half what we were paying once we factor in splitting utilities. The electric isn't even in the name of the girl we are subletting from. It's in the name of a prior renter. We have no way of getting our names on the electric or cable/internet bill. Can't be done. Will an affidavit from the gal we are subletting from work in this situation? Be enough?

Yes, please, more. We were just asked for more evidence and are very very frightened of what this means. We know it is not good and that an interview would be the next step.

Two forms?! Wow.

We are way way overdue on this. We just forgot.

Hi. My wife came here under a K1, has her 2 year green card, is currently applying to have conditions on status removed.

Change of address form asks I am in the U.S. as a: Visitor; Permanent Resident; Student; Other____(Specify)

What do I list? It would have to be other, but what?

This is form a-11. Is that the right form?

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1919/i797b.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9484/i797c.png

I really think we are ****ed. We have nothing else we can give them. We have no proof of a lease or rent for the first year in which Anh was here. Nothing but my parent's word that we were renting from them.

And now we are subletting an apartment and have nothing in our names (this started around spring, right when I submitted the I-751) so we cannot update them and say, "Hey! Here is our new info for our new place!" All we can do is maybe get an affidavit from the person we are subletting from.

What else can we do? I can get one two other affidavits from friends who knew Anh since she came here. But that won't satisfy anyone if I am reading this form correctly. What they want we do not have.

We don't own a home property. I owned my car before Anh came here and she has no license and needs no license living in NYC. We gave them three years joint tax returns, copies of our two apartment leases in NYC for 2007 and 2008 to early 2009. Cable bill. Verizon wireless bill. Bank accounts. We had no savings beyond a couple hundred dollars, so is that going to count against us? Even now, our savings is not large at all. Less than a thousand dollars. We pay our rent in cash at the end of each month and the same with cable and electric.

At the moment I am sick to my stomach. This is patently unfair.

The letter actually states, in bold: Do not send copies of documents previously submitted. Well, #######?! What else can I send? I might be able to find maybe one or two additional pieces of evidence to send, but that is it. If this thing is telling me not to submit stuff I sent prior, then they have not lost anything and want new evidence.

Here is a scan of the first page, with the name and other private stuff blacked out...

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8529/i797.jpg

We originally sent:

Photos of wedding, vacations, trips, family gatherings, etc.

Stuff with joint names:

Copies of lease for apartment in Brooklyn

Same for apartment in Queens

Copy of renters policy

Copy of our health insurance

Copy of bank statements from Wachovia and Citibank

Copy of our cable bill in Queens

Copy of our Verizon Wireless plan

Three affidavits

Marriage certificate

I am sure there is more, but I do not recall off the top of my head.

First of all, why can't we edit past a few minutes? Now I have to make another post.

I just called and talked to USCIS and they were ZERO help. None. She just kept reading canned responses.

So should I make an appointment through info-pass? If I see a local agent can they find out what the heck the problem is and then allow me to address it? Or will it just be another waste of time.

https://infopass.uscis.gov/infopass.php

Of course, in looking at that website I might not even qualify to make an appointment. They list four reasons and I am none of them.

I am wondering if the primary reason is that we have no proof of a place we rented for the first year she was here. We rented from family, in cash, so it was just a verbal agreement. Well, there is no way around that. It was what it was. We have bank records with that address, so we can easily show we were living there. I am just perplexed. We sent all that in.

No, we have not. We just forgot to do it.

Well, as luck would have it, I found our Wachovia paperwork. Wow. Stroke of luck. It was in a throw-out pile. So I can prove that, at least.

OK, why is it impossible to speak to a HUMAN BEING at USCIS? Is there some secret? Please someone tell me what fricking numbers I need to press to talk to a person. I have tried for hours to talk to a human and just get menu after menu.

No, no magazine subscriptions. Do people still do that? If they lost the paperwork, why send this threatening letter? I don't get it.

Maybe they don't like the gaps. We didn't officially rent anything with a lease when we were living in NC for a year. We rented from family. Verbal agreement. We can't prove any of that.

And in our moves we have lost all of our Wachovia paperwork. We switched to Citibank about 18 months ago, so how can we prove our joint account with Wachovia? I sent copies of that paperwork with the I751 earlier this year, but don't have originals or copies on hand. They were lost.

Complicating matters is we moved to Manhattan and have not updated our physical address yet. We need to do that. This is the address we are subletting.

I am really nervous about what our government will do because they just seem to have it out for any Vietnamese who apply, while they give a free ride to uneducated illegals day in and day out.

OK gang. I know I don't post here much anymore, but that's because life has been busy and a bit hard. However, today we received a letter stating our evidence for Anh's ten year GC was insufficient and that is a serious problem.

Topic posted here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=218029

Advice?

OK, this is just nuts. Up to this point everything had been so easy, so I guess it was only a matter of time before we were hit with the whip.

We filed the I751 earlier this year with all the evidence we could give them. But we just received a form stating our evidence was insufficient and that we have to send more to be processed.

What more could we send? We have sent them every possible piece of evidence asked for that we had.

They list a number of items they want, most of which we have already sent them.

Joint tax returns, Leases for our apartments in both our names, joint health insurance, joint renters insurance, joint bank accounts, joint utilities, bla bla blah.

But things they list they want we do not have.

We do not own a home.

We do not jointly own a car because Anh doesn't drive. She has no license. So how can I list her on my car insurance?

We have no kids so how can we provide birth certificates for kids that do not exist?

We do not have any loans together.

They ask for copies of our lease(s) but we provided them already!

They want affidavits written by thirds parties, but we already gave them three! All three were very clearly written and properly done.

Since late winter this year things for us have been very bad. I lost my job and we had to move from our lovely apartment to a craphole in the wall we sublet, so we have no actual lease or utilities in our own name. No renters insurance either. This all happened just prior to filing, so at the time was not an issue.

But what to do now? Honestly, there is nothing else whatsoever we can provide to them. We have already provided every piece of evidence we have. #######?!

We had zero trouble with the interview process in Saigon and you all know how crazy they are. My wife spent a lot of time in Europe and Japan, so she was well traveled and an educated girl. Since coming here she has done very well and has a pretty darned good job in NYC, which she loves. But since late winter we have been subletting and have nothing in our name. No lease, no utilities at all. Yes, we have our bank account and a savings account and our health insurance.

What should we do? Our marriage is not bull----. I can't begin to describe how angry I am at this moment.

Unreal. I have been calling all day and they just keep telling me the system is down and they cannot help us.

Her appointment is tomorrow and no status is available online. This is a nightmare.

OK, I searched, but did not find an answer to this. Almost three weeks ago we received an I-797 notifying my wife the date and time of her Biometrics for a 10 year green card. Only problem was, they were sending her to the wrong state! We live in NY, but have a mailing address of NC for all government related matters. Our mail box here is not secure, so anything important is sent to my family in NC.

Our physical address has been in NY for a long time now and it was updated wth the government the day we made the move in 2007.

Anyway, I sent in the appropriate letters to both addresses required (listed on the I-797) but I cannot find out if they have made any changes or if they even have updated our case. I called the 800 # but went round and round with the automated system and was unable to talk to a human being. I'm beyond frustrated at this point.

All I do know is that our letter was delivered on April 16.

Can anyone help me here? What can I do to find out what is going on? Her appointment was supposed to be this coming Wednesday (the 27th) and there is no way she can make that appointment. We don't have the money for a plane ticket.

Help, please.

Yes, that is what I thought, but we had copies and they say they need a 'copy.'

OK, I have no idea what happened to our copies of Anh's packet from the old I-94 days. Right now we are actually sending in the I-751.

Meanwhile, my wife's Vietnamese passport has expired. The embassy said she needs to bring a copy of her I-94 in to renew it. We don't have it. I have NO IDEA what happened, but it is gone. The entire packet is missing. We've torn the apartment apart trying to find it.

What should we do? Is there a way to get a copy from the government?

My wife has NO passport. She must be able to renew it somehow.

Any advice would be appreciated.

NEVER MIND! Duh. I'm just brain farting.

Done. Just made a list and added it to the packet of I-751 stuff. The tax stuff hasn't arrived from the IRS so I will have to call them and have them fax it over so I can send this thing and be done with it.

Then more waiting begins! Yay!!