11 hours ago, Boiler said:

I am going to assume with that history it took quite some time to get his GC

 

Why does it matter?

the answers seem to support what I was thinking, that if the application process just takes long enough, the applicant will receive the 10 year green card without an ROC being necessary.

It’s not directly about sending him back as someone here suggested, which to my understanding is not even an option at this point. 

It is mostly about shedding some light into what was going on in those years in that marriage and potential fraud, as my SIL didn’t recall signing any ROC documents, which now makes sense.

I do not have a full understanding of everything, but from what I understand so far, there was a lot of abuse going on, mental and financial abuse 100% for sure, and it potentially even physical, at least that’s what my gut tells me, I could be wrong but a few things that were mentioned indicate that.
 

Hence my interest in shedding a bit of light into some aspects of that marriage.

Thank you everyone for the helpful answers.

Hello everyone,

i have not followed up here in years as I am a US citizen and have been for a while. However, I am requesting some information on who the ROC process applies to.

The reason I am asking that is that my sister in law married a non US citizen as well. He already had a rather troublesome history of green card fraud and at least early in their marriage was on deportation orders.

However, as my SIL is going through a hard time with him and is in the middle of what seems a nasty divorce she showed me his green card approval letter. And it is for a 10 years green card. When I asked what year and time they had filed his ROC, she didn’t know what that was. Upon explaining it to her,  she has no recollection of a two year green card or ever filing and signing this.

I realize their battle for his green card took years And I don’t know all the details, so I am wondering: Is it possible to receive a 10 years green card straight away on marriage based filing if the process just takes long enough, or is an ROC ALWAYS involved in these cases ?

Just trying to shed some light into what seems was not a marriage based on good faith…(which everyone waren her about early on, as she was/still is his third wife…..but that’s a different story).

thank you for anything helpful !

Good evening,

can those serving in the armed forces file a green card application for their parents ? If so, is that a potentially expedited process ?

i apologize for asking what seems a googlble question, but I am a bit lost.

Hello everyone, 

i am not sure if is the right ein forum to post on, but don’t know which would have been more helpful, best guess posting here.

I will start serving in the US military and be gone for basic training for quite a while. My wife and toddler son who are US Citizens, just like me, will be pretty alone during that time and due to Covid they will be even more limited in how much they can move. 
 

My parents are German citizens living in Germany and would love to be able to come over and help. Obviously that is not possible due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

Is there any sort of exception for these travel bands ? I know that some countries have sort of a “compassionate visit” exception.

I fully realize we are not exactly an emergency type of situation, but wanted to ask if and what our options are.

thank you very much  for any input.

Hi everyone,

I am a US citizen and my parents are going to visit me for the first time in the USA for a week and will want to apply for ESTA soon.

As they are not so fluent in English I was wondering if it was possible and legal for me to fill out their ESTA application and pay for it here online in the States or if they have to do this manually themselves ?

I would appreciate any help !

Hi guys,

a question for those of you who did their biometrics already, was it the full hand bios like AOS or n400 or was it just the thumb print ?

good luck all !!!

PS....data (im)migration would be more appropriate, wouldn’t it ? 😉

Dang, you are fast !!!!! 

So it was not in relation to my phone or internet, but to the server issues ? 

Hello everyone,

I love this forum, thanks for all the help I got here.

strangely today, from about 2pm on until about now, the forum was extremely glitchy.

I could not load the home screen, or profiles or certain sub forums. Now it is all good again. But there were lots of ex144 errors and “query failed” screens.

Does anyone have information on that ?

😞

It does not seem uscis has a clear answer on that ?

I am wondering what kind of background checks are done for those applying for the ROC. I know biometrics are used for those.

The n400 requires both the fingerprint check AND a name check, which is apparently what is holding up so many applications. Does that go for the ROC as well ? Are name checkings part of the process ? 

That might be part of the big delays many experience, if that is the case.

5 hours ago, implife said:

Make sure you don't hurt people. They you will have fewer things to worry about.

That

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Agree, bring the original, but it is also a good idea to bring a few copies.  My wife was traveling through China once with the extension letter and the airline wanted to keep it, luckily they accepted a copy of the letter for their records.

I heard of that happening before as well.

Hallo Leute,

gibt es unter euch Green Card Holder die im Militär dienen wollen ? (Keine Spouses) 

lg

Only true for Mavnis.

16 hours ago, Fasteve said:

U.S. Army Stops Discharging Immigrant Recruits Seeking Citizenship

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/09/637147951/u-s-army-stops-discharging-immigrant-recruits-seeking-citizenship

This article has little if not nothing to do with the topic here.

It deals with applicants for the failed and discontinued MAVNI program.

I feel sorry for those applicants. However, their entire recruiting process as well as their background check and their citizenship procedure is very different from the one of GC holders.

I even think this failed project is responsible for the higher scrutiny for GC holders now.

Are you in the National Guard ? If so that is great because you are already “in” the Military. You most likely have attended some drills for which you must have gotten paid. Hopefully that means they work faster on you background checks.

I checked by the way and was assured that as long as you are a GC holder you can not get a clearance.

11 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Guys unfortunately investigations with the DOD are backlogged tremendously. This goes for green card holders investigations, clearances, everything and I mean everything. I am a USC with a Filipina wife and my clearance paperwork took almost 10 months. So the key right now is patience and just waiting. 

You are completely right, and everyone who intends to join the military has to learn to deal with “hurry up and wait”.

thank you also for serving.

Keep one thing in mind though, please: The affected applicants are already vetted by their status as Green Card holders. The new policy also does not create any difference in the amount or level of vetting, it just requires the vetting to be completed before the individuals may enter the armed forces. Before that it used to be that these applicants could start serving while the checks were conducted.

I also do believe that the frustrating part is that nobody knows when they can start serving. In the meantime those applicants are stuck in some sort of limbo not knowing if they should even hold their breath for it to work out within the next year (some people have been waiting for 16 months now).

Lastly, the jobs that GC holders are allowed to accept are already extremely limited, due to the security risk. Therefore I think it is only natural that for some it feels like an outright ban to servic even when that is in reality not the case. 

What’s with all the cursing here ? Can’t you do without ? Last time I checked we were not that kind of community.

On 6/1/2018 at 1:17 AM, Roel said:

You can join the army with conditional green card. But not air force or navy- I believe they require 10 year green cards at least.

 

Though if course you need to keep your green card if you want to live and work in the US. Recruiter might ask you about this. 

Roel, you are almost correct. You can join the army, navy, and marines with a conditional one. The Air Force requires the 10 year green card. I am not sure about the coast guard.

However, I am not sure how advisable it is to try to join under Conditional Permanent residence.

Due to a new regulation every green card holder who intends to join the military, will have to undergo and pass the background investigation process now BEFORE entering the branch of service. You can be admitted into DEP but the enlistment will not further be processed until the checks are done. And as the office that deals with those checks is extremely behind their schedule, this can take up to a year. 

So if you have already had your green card for one year prior to enlisting, it could be that by the time you are good to enter the branch of service, your green card is expired and you are waiting for the removal of conditions to be done.

That is in some branches a problem, as the extension letter is not valid shipping document resulting in, again, a wait.

It might be advisable for some to just wait until they have the 10 year green card.

It’s not. You are a green card holder, you can’t get a clearance. It’s a suitability screening, meaning they will use the investigation to find out if you fit into the military.  But you can’t get any job which requires a clearance.

Ok, so he already had his interview, and references contacted and everything ?

Then he is really almost done with the process and if his investigation finished in May, then the wait for the department’s good to go should come in not too long. Normally it is about 2 months, but as you know.....things can become, well, delayed. Should not be too much longer.

But I would not be worried as of yet.

1.When did he enter the military ? As he is in the National Guard he has been in since his swear in at MEPS. When was that ?

2.When did the backgrounds checks officially finish ? It is supposed to only take about two months, and there are reports of much less time until someone gets the department’s permission to ship out. 

3. How did he find out they are done with the checks ? It can not hurt to call the OPM number and find out for sure if his one is still pending or closed.

I hope this is of help for someone:

I ended up applying at a normal location and expedited it the normal way (60.00$)

Other than that the only extra fee I paid was for priority mail. I was told it would take 2-3 weeks. However, after just one week, I received my passport !!! :-)

On 7/8/2018 at 2:17 PM, Cyberfx1024 said:

The vast majority of these guys haven't even been to Basic training yet so yes technically they are enlisted but in reality they have not gone through boot camp yet so they aren't enlisted.

I am a bit late to the conversation but you hit the nail on the head !!! These guys are not yet members of the armed forces despite what they would like to think and what their lawyers claim. 

One could argue that it is not their fault that they can not serve because it takes so long to be done with the process, but still, either you are serving or you are not.