SandyKay

Hi, happy to follow up.

I phoned USCIS on the number given in my original post the following morning. I gave my case number to the automated system, and spoke to an agent, explaining the situation and asking for advice.

She stated that because they had received my forms (as confirmed by the fact that I had received that text and had a case number) that even though I didn't have the physical I-797 in my possession, from their standpoint my status as a legal permanent resident was extended as if I had, and that getting a passport stamp was unnecessary from their point of view. I made sure to note the time and date of my call, and the number of the agent I spoke to (she stated this upon answering the call), in case I need to refer back to it.

She did say that if I needed to get one, she could book an appointment for me (so via phone, rather than online). The only reasons I'd need one (at least, currently) are if I was planning on leaving the country or if I required one to prove my status as a permanent resident for e.g. starting a new job so requiring something to indicate I had a right to work in the US. Neither of those applied to me, and I talked to my HR department at work that day to confirm if they needed anything - explaining if they did I could arrange to get my passport stamped. They were unsure, but got back to me a few hours later confirming that, from their point of view, I was fine to work (essentially, they didn't need to see an updated green card, and that such a thing was only needed when hiring rather than regularly checking when it expired, but obviously if they did need to see it at a later date it'd be important to have still).

As of this post, my I-797 has still not arrived. My current plan, given that I received the text on the 13th of December, is to wait 45 days from receiving it to follow up with USCIS about it not arriving, so something like the end of this month.

Hope that helps any other VJers out there! I'd recommend still doing your due diligence and phoning USCIS yourself to confirm, as your circumstances may be different from mine.

Hi @Kiolas, thanks for your response.

While it's a little selfish to say, glad to see others are having the same problems!

I logged into the site your recommended above, and see the same thing you do. ("We received your case...")

Only concern for me now is whether I can work if I don't receive my NOA by the time my green card expires. 45 days would put me at a week or two after my green card expires (yes, we left it a little late in the 3 month window, gathering that evidence took a while!). I'll take it up with USCIS tomorrow when I give them a call.

Hello, Visajourney-ers!

Immigrant-half of this account posting here, so "I" means the person with the green card.

We submitted my I-751 back in early December, along with the G-1145 (E-notification of application/petition acceptance) to get notifications via text and e-mail. On December 13th I received a text to the tune of:

Quote

USCIS: Your case was received. Receipt # ABC1234567890. Official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) to follow in mail.

The check for the processing fee and biometrics fee was cashed on the 14th.

Note that I did not get an e-mail notification of the above (just the text), despite putting my e-mail address on the G-1145 (I've verified that the e-mail address I used is accurate on my copy of the packet, which was a printed copy rather than a hand-written copy so I'm sure it's accurate).

My green card (with conditions) expires on January 13th.

Based on what I've read so far, the proper approach would be to get an InfoPass appointment at my local USCIS office, but here's the catch...

Quote

This office is not accepting walk-in requests or scheduling InfoPass appointments.

 

There are still ways to get basic information about immigration services and ask questions about your case online without an office visit or a phone call. If you have a question about a pending application, you can:

 

<list of very generic online services>

I'm currently planning on calling up USCIS tomorrow (their opening hours are apparently 8am-9pm Mon-Fri), but wanted to get some thoughts as to anything I can do or what specifically I need to ask for before that.

One last point that might be relevant: entering the receipt number I received in the text tells me:

Quote

• My Case Status does not recognize the receipt number entered. Please check your receipt number and try again. If you need further assistance, please call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283.

Sorry for the information dump above, hopefully gives as much context as needed to explain the situation. My questions are as follows:

• Is there anything specific I should say/ask on the phone with USCIS tomorrow?
• Is there anything I need to do to make sure I'm not going to run into any problems (e.g. my green card expires in a week, if I haven't received it by then, what should I do?)
• I'm planning on calling USCIS tomorrow, and will likely have to talk to my work's (generally understanding) HR department to give them a head's up. Am I right in thinking that, legally, I shouldn't be able to be working after my green card has expired if I haven't received the I-797?
• What's the deal with the receipt number not being recognized?
• Any general advice for this situation?

Thanks in advance, trying not to worry too much about it! 😅

Hi VJers!

I'm at the fun stage of waiting for my EAD, and based on current timelines am looking to have it a good chunk before the end of the year. To that end, given my field (software engineering) I'm looking to start applying to positions with a start date of "sometime in January". Employment in the US is a little different to what I'm used to (from the UK), and there's some bits I'd love clarification of. I appreciate that much of this can be Googled, but the information is almost never in the context of an EAD. Insight into any of these points is much appreciated, even if you don't have something for all of them.

• Any former UK-residents with insight into particular pitfalls or surprising differences when it comes to the US employment malarkey?
• W2: what is this? How does it relate to 1099? Are there any caveats with EADs and either of these?
• Should I go in stating that I'm waiting on an EAD, or just not mention it as I believe there are no limitations for it and they should not discriminate anyway?
• For any other software engineers or similar out there, what would you call a "standard" package for someone with a few (3-4ish) years of professional experience? If it matters, I'm in the Jacksonville FL area, so not one of those fancy hotspots but still a decent technology scene.
  • Obviously health insurance is something way more important than I'm used to, is it fairly standard as a job perk (discounted, not fully paid, I would imagine) for software engineers? Is it something that typically becomes available as soon as you start working, or do they require X months of work first?
  • What would you consider a normal salary range for this sort of field? Keep in mind that I have no prior experience with American salary ranges or job descriptions, so while vague is there a ballpark figure? It's an inevitable question at interviews, and I want to make sure I'm on the same page (or at least same chapter!) as the employers.
  • What would you consider a standard amount annual leave (days off per year)? What would you consider "good" annual leave?
• Is the whole recruitment thing over here regarding "X years of experience with Y" similar to the UK, in that you can get away with a bit less rather than it being a hard requirement? Silly question, probably, but I just want to make sure that I'm not wasting my time or theirs.

Sorry for the somewhat eclectic mix of questions, but they're the ones I'm having issues with right now.

Thanks!

Hi VJers,

For payment of the AOS package, we were looking to use a personal check rather than a money order. However, we were wondering if it would be a problem, given that my maiden name is still on my checks. I have changed my name legally with the social security office, but nothing else just yet. Will they accept these checks as payment with no problems?

Thanks!

Hi VJers!

So my husband and I are sitting here making sure that we've done everything on the I-864 correctly before we send it, and we saw something we hadn't before: apparently we're not suppose to leave any blanks. Thus far, anything that hasn't been applicable we've just left blank. We've already got the joint sponsor's signed and completed I-864, and there are blanks on things that weren't applicable there, too.

My question is, can we go in with a black ink pen and just write N/A or NONE where there are blanks? Or do we have to re-do everything electronically?

Thanks for your time!

Hello VJ-ers!

My foreign fiance will be making his final move to the United States from the UK at the end of this month, and we have been trying to figure out the best way to move his money along with him. He would be moving an amount in the vicinity of £10k, and thus far we haven't quite found a way that minimizes the fees for such a transaction. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with this?

Thank you!

Great to hear. I'll be sure to keep the "only offer what they ask for" in mind, as well as swotting up on for my interview. Thanks again!

Sorry Nich-Nick, another question just arose! So while I've got your attention:

According to the London Embassy, if our K-1's petition approval is expired prior to the interview (it expired mid December 2015), then I need to bring an updated letter of intent from my fiancée. Well, we thought that we would have a little more notice before the interview, so I don't have the updated letter just yet. I received the interview notice today, and so my fiancée posted the letter of intent to me today as well (priority mail). They told her that it would take 5 - 10 business days for it to arrive to me, the 10th day being the actual day of my interview (February 9th). So as you can see, this is cutting it uncomfortably close, particularly because my interview is at 8am, well before the post arrives.

So my question is this; on the off chance that it does not arrive in time, what should I do? If I show up to the interview without the updated letter, what will happen? I have proof that my fiancée was just here not even two weeks ago, and we also have the receipt from the post office, though it obviously doesn't specify what was sent.

Thank you!

Much appreciated, thanks for the quick response! That lowers our heart rates a little!

(For whatever reason I can't seem to edit my post, so anyway...)

As an addendum, to be clear: the I-134 that I have is from September 2015. Is that recent enough (given interview date of February 9th 2016, and plans to move June 2016)? All information on it is correct as of that time, and nothing of note has changed since then (other than it being a new tax year, but I figure given the notice period I won't need to worry about getting the latest tax return on it as that hasn't even been filed yet!).

Hi there!

(For clarity, I'm the British fiancé - my American fiancée is having internet issues and we're looking to get an answer soon so here I am!)

Just today I received the letter containing my interview date - it's on the 9th of February at the London embassy, so very soon! Obviously this caused a flurry of making sure we have everything we need for it, and a couple of things have come up with the affidavit of support (I-134).

• I have the original (here in the UK) that was put together when the visa application was made, back in September 2015. Given that I'm looking to move over around June 2016 (yes, my medical will be in date!) is that a recent enough one?
• Looking specifically at this page (http://london.usembassy.gov/faffidavit.html) it says "To substantiate the information regarding income and resources the sponsor should attached two or more of the following items to the affidavit: notarized copies of his or her latest federal income tax return; ...". I've got the tax return here (original from IRS, as well as photocopies), but it's not been notarised as there was nothing about that on the actual I-134 instructions (http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-134instr.pdf) it says nothing about getting them notarised. Is this going to be an issue (specifically for the London embassy)?

Thanks for taking the time to help!

London tells in your (packet 3) instruction letter that to extend an expired petition, a new letter of intent/signed by the American fiance should be brought to the interview. No prior permission has to be granted by the consulate, but I would submit the DS-160 prior to the expiration so they know you are working on the visa and haven't abandoned.

I am not quite following your timeline plans. If he had his medical Monday (Nov 21) his interview would not likely be until the second week of January. His visa would be issued to expire May 21. I think you want him to enter the U.S. after June. Is that right?

Thanks! He said he was pretty sure that he just needed a letter from me, but he couldn't remember where he'd read it and I wanted to be certain. I just told him to go reread his packet, and sure enough it's right there haha!

As for your confusion, that was my fault - I worded my first post incorrectly. What I meant to say was that we're arranging things so that his medical will be in January, not his interview, as the six month validity period is based off the medical. Good catch, though! That would have been a nightmare if I hadn't already known! xD

Edit - Didn't see your last statement. He could have already come over, but he was going to wait until April to fly here regardless because he wanted to save up some more money. We decided to just wait the extra two months for his sister's wedding so he could save the $1k or so for a plane ticket, though it added the confusion about the NOA2 expiration. All cleared up now, though! =)

Hey VJers!

So my British fiance is trying to arrange his medical and whatnot in such a way that will allow him to have his interview in January. We're doing this because he needs to make it to his sister's wedding in late June, so he needs to still be in the country at that point. However, our NOA2 expires in mid-December. What do we have to do to get an extension from the embassy?

Thanks!

As Nich-Nick says.

Assume that as your case has only just got to London you won't have had the medical done yet?

Similar situation to ours with having to delay due to savings & planned dates (planning to enter the US in March 16). We had NOA2 back in May & only just booked my medical so we've delayed by 4-5 months (our NOA2 1st expiry was 4th September).

The visa runs for 6 months from the date of the MEDICAL, not interview, so bear that in mind when planning timescales.

For your NOA2 expiry just send a letter directly from you in the US to the London Embassy about a month before NOA2 is due to expire saying that due to personal circumstances please can you extend, then after that put that you are still free and willing to marry within 90 days. That is what we did & it was accepted OK.

I'll be also taking an updated letter of intent to the interview.

Just delay the medical until the timescale fits, when I phoned to book mine they were taking bookings for the week after so no long delays.

Interview won't be scheduled by the Embassy until they have your medical results, DS-160 & readiness form.

I've got some template letters that we used for the extension - if you need them drop me a message & I can email them over to you?

Hope that helps a little more?

That definitely helps, thank you! If we find that we need some template letters, I'll certainly drop you a line! =)

I have known several London cases where the embassy sent a letter to the beneficiary after six months of zero response to the instruction letter (aka packet 3) saying basically "Hey do you want a visa or not? We sent you instruction on xx-xx-2014. We will close your case if you have changed your mind." One was a guy who never got his instruction letter and was still waiting for six months. Who is that patient? Anyway he found VJ, got some hand holding on what to do, and got his visa. I am pretty confident that London would contact you by mail before they would close you case.

If you submit a DS-160 at the end of November, then only two months would have lapsed (not six like some others) since they sent your instruction. That lets them know you are still in the game. Then six weeks later they get your medical. Not an abandonment or change of heart because you are trickling things in. I think the expiration is purely to give a shelf life. What if you came back two years later after Noa2 and started the London part? They have a legal reason to say "too late buddy". Expiration of petition is a non-issue unless you do nothing until next summer. You will be doing something. You aren't the first to slow it down.

Thanks so much for all the info! We've decided to do what you suggested - just space everything out so June is included in the visa validity period. I don't like having to do that, but we really want to make sure we can be there for his sister's wedding.. poorly timed as it may be! Hahaha!

As for the post coldhands noted about someone being denied at the border because of an expired NOA2, like you said, it really does just look like a big mistake by the agent in question.

I really appreciate everyone's responses, because all of this can get so confusing and scary at times!

Your case is already in London if it left NVC on 9/17.

A plan:

Submit DS-160 around Thanksgiving.

Attend medical exam in early January.

Submit readiness form after exam leaving planned wedding date blank.

Prepare a new letter of intent for him to take to the interview because your petition will be expired.

Thanks for your reply!

Do you think it would be a good idea to contact the Embassy about this? Maybe they could simply schedule the interview further out? Also, I read an account from someone here yesterday who said that they were denied entry at the border because their NOA2 had expired before they received their K-1. Will we have issues with an expired NOA2?

Also, if we take a while getting his forms in, such as how your plan suggested spacing them out, will they close our case for taking too long?

Hey guys!

So I realize that while probably NOBODY wants to have their visa interview postponed, we have a really good reason, and we want to know if it's even possible. Or even really an okay idea.

Here is our issue:

My foreign fiance's sister is getting married on June 19th 2016, and things are starting to look like he's going to get his visa by December this year. That means that he'll more than likely exceed the six month validity period of the K-1 visa if he chooses to stay in the UK to attend his sister's wedding. What we had originally planned, was that he was going to wait to come to the US in April 2016 because he wanted to save more money before he moved here, which is totally fine. However, we don't know if he will get his advance parole in time for him to return to the UK for her wedding. April to June is only two months, and it can apparently take upwards of three months to receive it.

Our other option was for him to move to the US earlier, but the earliest he can move while still managing to hit his savings goal is March - still a little iffy on whether he'll get the AP in time.

So, my question here is this: Is it possible, or even a good idea to delay the visa interview so that the six month validity period will include the month of June? And if so, how do we go about doing this?

(For a little more detail on where we are in the process, the NVC sent our case to the London embassy on September 17th, so they should be receiving it soon.)

I appreciate any advice!

Hello!

So, I live in the US and my fiance lives in the UK. He will likely have his visa in hand by December, though he won't be moving to the US until about April 2016. Because of that, I was hoping to go visit him for about three weeks over Christmas, and I was wondering if any of you thought I would have issues going for a visit with his visa pending and everything. I assume not, since I'm sure it would be more difficult for him to visit me in the US, but I just want to make sure I have all the bases covered before we go ahead and book a plane ticket.

Thanks!

Hi - Not sure whats taking you so long at the NVC, it look me about two weeks. Once they had it, it took them about a week to assign a case number, and then send the letter to London. Once you have your LND case number, you can go ahead and book your medical exam. I booked mine about a week from when the NVC assigned the number. You can just wait until you receive a letter from London, but I wanted to save a bit of time.

The letter from London tells you the next steps that you need to take, like filling out the DS160, filling out the interview readiness form, and obviously going for a medical (think i got those slightly backwards).

After the medical (assuming you have done the other bits) the embassy will send you an interview date. It took me about 2-3 weeks after the medical was passed to the embassy to receive the letter, and the appointment was 2 weeks after that!

Good luck...... to us both, my interview is in two days now! Im freeking out!

I'm not sure why it's taking so long either, but I've heard from a few people who received their NOA2 around the same time as me, and some of them are having a bit of a delay as well. Not particularly worried yet, though!

So, I'm the petitioner and my fiance is the beneficiary living in the UK. Will he be the one receiving the letter from London? Also, how long did it take for you to receive your letter from when the NVC sent your case off to the embassy?

And wow, your interview is so soon! Good luck to you!

Hello, VJers!

I contacted the NVC earlier today after 25 days of waiting, and apparently they still haven't received our case since I was told to call back after it's been 35 days since my NOA2. However, I started wondering what exactly is going to happen once they send my case off to the London embassy. Will I receive anything from the embassy stating that they have received my case? Will they send something to my fiance with the list of what he needs to get to them, or do we find that out ourselves?

Thank you!

I'm so glad I found this thread!

I got my NOA1 on August 7 and NOA2 on August 20 (13 days only!) from California service center. I'm not sure if this helped at all but I made everything extremely organized with a cover letter and folders with a binder. So I think it didn't take them long to find everything they were looking for and approved it fast!

I've been calling NVC every single day. It took me over 150 calls to get through to NVC, I'm not even exaggerating! Only to find that they still haven't recieved my case

Is there anyone that has a NOA2 date close to mine (August 20)? Has NVC recieved your case yet?

I talked to someone that got their NOA2 from Texas service center around the same time I did and their case was already processed by NVC and is sent to the embassy! Meanwhile, NVC hasn't gotten my case yet.

Maybe it's because mine was approved at Cali service center and theirs was Texas.

I'm hoping that by this week or next week the latest, NVC will give me good news that they got my case ☺️

Good luck everyone!

Hi, Sumeja!

I received my NOA1 on August 3rd, and my NOA2 on August 14th from the California service center. I called the NVC today and was told to call back when it's been 35 days from my NOA2 date, which is 10 days from now. So, I'm assuming they haven't received mine yet, either! But don't worry, I'm sure they'll get them soon. =)

1. That is basically what I did, except I gave the address of the retiree service center that manages the pensions. Doesn't matter too much what you put. London will not scrutinize that address.

2. List the pension and skip the rest. If he can get a pension letter stating the amount he gets, that will be great proof for London. They don't require you prove it five ways. Very easy.

3. For London, one sponsor and I-134 is enough. You do not have to do an I-134. When you get to adjustment of status, you will be required to do an I-864 even with zero income. And grandpa will do one too.

Thank you so much for your quick reply!

1. That's perfect, I'll list the retiree service center!

2. I have photocopies of his past three years' 1099-Rs as well as photocopies of his past three years' tax returns. In addition I ordered copies of his tax transcripts from the IRS, and I have a letter from his bank stating his average balance, etc. I'm sure sending all of that is overkill, but I just want to be sure!

3. That sounds good, just sending the one I-134 makes things a bit easier. Would it be a good idea to send a letter from my grandpa stating our relationship and why he is willing to sponsor my fiance? I read somewhere that it could be beneficial, though I'm more than likely overthinking things!

Hello, everyone!

I have a couple of questions about the I-134 affidavit of support. I need to send it to my fiance for his visa interview, and I'm using my retired grandfather as my co-sponsor because I am currently unemployed and will not be making enough money to cover the sponsor requirements on my own in the foreseeable future.

1. My grandpa is retired, so for question 7 on the form, "I am engaged in the business of (blank) with (blank) at (address).", should he put, "I am engaged in the business of (retired) with (company he retired from) at (his current home address)."?

2. My grandpa makes enough money with just his pension alone to cover the income requirement, so where it asks him to list all sources of income such as property, life insurance, and the like, can he simply write down his annual income (his pension) and leave the rest of the income lines blank? Or does he have to list everything?

3. I have read that even though I am not currently employed and won't be making enough money for a while, I will still have to send my own affidavit of support. Is that correct? And if so, will I still have to send my IRS transcripts and a letter from my bank, etc?

I appreciate everyone's advice!

Sure, or he can put retired and 'receiving pension' for company.

Thank you so much, you're being an AWESOME help. I went to his place today and we found his past three years' tax return copies, and I made copies of his 1040s as well as his last three years' 1099s. We also ordered his past three years' tax transcripts from the IRS, and went to the bank to acquire the letter from them, which should be mailed to us within two weeks. I also got copies of his birth certificate (which is a little odd looking, but it's from 1939 so I suppose that's normal) and just to be careful I also copied the biographical page of his valid passport.

MIGHT be doing a little overkill, but I just want to be thorough.

Just provide proof of the pension income. You can use his benefits letter, whatever tax form he receives each year(such as SSA-1099) showing how much he received for the year, and bank statements showing the amount of the deposits each month.

Thank you so much! I believe I have just one more question - on question 7 on the I-134, it says, "I am engaged in the business of (blank) with (blank)." For this part, should my grandfather put, "I am engaged in the business of retired with company he's retired from." ?