puppalo

9 minutes ago, Scott Rusticus said:

LOL. No. It will just be my, my fiancée, and her 13 year old son. 

Should be good then!

https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p

As long as you are not supporting a household of ten people including yourself and your fiancee, $62K is plenty. Surprisingly, they don't ask about debt for the affidavit of support.

Regarding travel, you may have more of an issue with the foreign countries with your DUIs. Canada, Mexico, a number of middle eastern and east asian countries all have some level of DUI restrictions for visitors, Canada being particularly strict among these.

Just now, Rafael G said:

I did not edit, just open the documents and print, but I think it's better to sin for the excess than for the lack, I'll try to print without those marks.

If you're just printing - the acrobat reader route is fine. However, it sounds like you might have printed the documents as PDF, using the pdffactory printer driver. This is where that got added. If this is the case - no matter where you print them from (acrobat reader, foxit, etc, anything) they will have the watermark.

You either have to recreate them with a program without a watermark or strip them out with another program if you don't want them.

Practically speaking, I doubt it will make any difference, but I'd want it gone if it were me, too.

2 minutes ago, MrHanky said:

that costs money

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+pdf+editor

There are an awful lot of programs that don't. If OP does have a distilled PDF, he could use one of these to strip it out (or add a white box like you suggest).

Why not just do it with acrobat reader or a program that doesn't do that?

It shouldn't be a big deal. We eloped, didn't have engagement rings, and our wedding rings were like $20 from amazon. They look at the totality of the situation - it sounds like you're about the same age, have shared interests, have lived together (and are currently), and most importantly, have some evidence of financial commingling (not required at this point but helpful).

They will probably ask why your wife isn't working, or what she's doing instead. Having trouble finding a job, stay at home mom, etc., are all acceptable answers. I assume she knows what you do for a living - they will probably ask.

You don't absolutely need it now, but it will certainly help, and it will make life easier in a couple years when you convert her two-year green card to a ten-year green card, if you start commingling finances. They will want to see this then. Beneficiary on life insurance, on health insurance, both on leases/mortgage/car title are all good. I would also add a joint bank account that you use as the primary one, authorized user on credit cards, beneficiary on retirement accounts, etc. Living will/healthcare power of attorney is good too.

Some of the information about Stokes questions on the site is out of date - it seems like everyone gets some of this type of question now. If our interviewer suspected fraud, he certainly didn't show it, and we got some of this type of question. The interview was pretty conversational, just asking about where we lived, pets, etc. Basic stuff like is it an apartment or a house, not "how many floor tiles between the toilet and the shower." The interviewer did insert one kind of laughable trying to trip me up question about our dog (we don't have one). None of the ridiculous stuff you read online about whether we use plain Colgate or Colgate total or date of last menstruation.

We dealt with a pretty similar situation last month (going through YYZ, but leaving the US). We had a passport stamp since the letter was almost a year old, but were waiting for an I-751 too. eTA was given online immediately and transit wasn't an issue at all. Stamp was just glanced at coming back into the US, incidentally.

3 hours ago, Transborderwife said:

The big reason why people advise not to go to any of the territories or non Intercontinental USA are 1) if a flight needs to be diverted say to Vancouver because of a snowstorm, you will have to go through customs again, bye bye greencard application.  And 2) occasionally there are cbp officers that will do visa checks (I've experienced this twice myself) even on domestic flights to areas like these.  Low chance but it happens.

#1: A very small chance, and one that has nothing to do with the fact that you were flying to Puerto Rico/Guam/etc. It happened on 9/11, and sure, I can see it happening in rare circumstances, but it could happen flying NYC-SEA too. It's unlikely they'd let you off the plane in most of these circumstances, since most Americans don't even have passports!

#2: CBP visa checks happen on domestic flights - rarely. However, this is no different than if you were flying from Kansas City to Houston. America is America. With a pending AOS position you are in status, and you haven't left the country - you are fine. Again, USCIS has given specific guidance indicating it is fine.

This is a difficult enough process - there really isn't any reason to add imagined rules when USCIS has said specifically that this isn't an issue.

Last time I was in PR (7-8 years ago?) it was just like any domestic flight - only show your drivers license. Oddly you got to shop duty free, though. There was no clearing customs. I think there might have been an ag check.

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/blog/2014/05/five-questions-about-advance-parole_9

As shown previously, the USCIS is quite explicit about this. Puerto Rico, Guam, etc., ARE the US, so you're not leaving the US by going there. This is exactly like traveling in the Shengen zone once you've entered it. People are overthinking this.

Thanks, we actually moved from MA too.

FYI - our changes of address were processed pretty seamlessly, although that's the only communication we've had since the move. Both mine (for AoS sponsor, sent by mail) and my partner's (immigrant, done online) went through fine. For the second, we had to use the initial NOA tracking number that isn't useful for tracking, IIRC, since the form rejected the biometrics tracking number.

Good luck with yours, and hopefully we learn something from someone who's gone through it. After the previous poster claimed to have heard of this on VJ many times, I went back and searched again more extensively, and I still couldn't come up with anything. This has to be common enough, though, so I suspect he's right and I just can't find it.

To PO, I am in the same situation excepting the stage of processing. I filed Vermont 6/25/15 (MA), and will move to WA 9/1 that's under CSC. I am at the stage that RFE has been received and responded.

I was told by other Vjers that if an interview does occur, it will be in WA, not MA. However it never occurred to me whether VSC will send my stuff to CSC, or VSC will send my stuff to a local office in WA without that step.

Yes, that is my question.

Did you go through this yourself, or can you point to a thread where this was discussed? I can't seem to find a report from anyone that actually went through it.

Thanks!

....So what is the question?

If your question is will your file be transferred, no it will not be transferred

We filed ROC (5/16) in a state serviced by VSC and moved (7/16) to a state serviced by CSC. We have done the applicant/sponsor change of address already as well as the non-USCIS moving paperwork (USPS change of address, etc.). I'm wondering if anyone has any recent experience in moving between states serviced by different service centers during the I-751 process. Obviously, I'm hoping our case gets transferred to CSC and gets processed more quickly.

The closest I could find to my question was a nine year old thread here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/202702-moving-from-csc-to-vsc-area/ that didn't give any answers. Thanks!

How long have you been in the US?

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/will-3060-day-rule-help-clear-suspicion-about-your-intentions-upon-us-entry.html

This is the guidance USCIS has given on the issue. VWP in and of itself isn't a problem, it's immigrant intent when you entered (including intending to marry and adjust status). Lots of visas aren't for immigration (B, J, F) and people do AOS while in the country. You can find lots of successful examples of all four cases in the forums (and of course, a few horror stories). If you are uneasy, you can use an attorney, but be selective. These aren't particularly hard forms to fill out, just tedious, and I think the field attracts some lawyers that aren't exactly our best and brightest. I have met some that gave advice I knew to be incorrect/potentially jeopardize someone's green card application.

Yes, you need an SSN, but the EAD is sufficient to establish work authorization and identity. You do not need to show your social security card if you have an EAD card with your photo on it.

She does not have a green card that is why she is asking about her EAD which is the authorization that she can work pending her GC. As mentioned, the I-9 has the other required or substitute ID's that can be used. More than one is required. The list allows her to pick and chose which ID she has and is willing to use. SS is always needed since employment taxes are a requirement. See attach File for ID's:

2015-06-27_19-23-43.jpg

They cannot specify which documents you use as long as they are among those listed on form I-9. An EAD card (with picture) or green card are both sufficient on their own to verify your identity and establish work authorization. Most larger employers, particularly those that employ foreigners, will know this and abide by the law. Occasionally you will see posts here from people describing employers that don't abide by the law, and it's unfortunately difficult to fight if they do this, but the I-9 instructions lay out what is required very clearly.