F1_to_Green

Received an email and a text on December 28th out of the blue, saying my card was being produced. Received my 10-yr green card on NYE! I've been squirreling away documents for over 2 years, to save for the interview, but I suppose I won't need them anymore. I'm not currently planning to become a citizen, at least not in the near-future, so for now: here endeth my journey. I'll stay subscribed to the weekly digest for this thread, so that I can answer any questions or be of any help to anyone else still in the process, or just starting the process. But other than that, I wanted to say THANK YOU to all the brilliant people here who have been so helpful over the last several years. This is quite an amazing community. To all the other November filers, good luck, and hang in there! Wishing everybody everywhere a very happy new year, may it bring prosperity and a new green card to you all! Thanks again everyone, and don't hesitate to ask if I can be of any help

Thanks, NovaSprings, that's really useful to know! I agree re: the extension letter - it's a pity they don't make them 2 yrs as standard, given they already know that processing is taking well over a year. Congrats on your new job!!!

It seems that ROC are taking 14-16 months at the moment. And when we receive our NOA letter, it gives us a 12 month extension on our work and residence rights, which is all good. So I'm just wondering: when that 12 month extension letter expires, do they automatically send us a new one, or do we become unable to work/travel for the final few months of waiting for our new Green Card?

I'm currently applying to jobs, and I'm wondering how I will explain/justify all this to potential employers. "Well, i AM eligible to work here free of restrictions, yes, but I can't prove it beyond the end of this extension letter that expires next November... but I promise I most probably will have a ten-year GC about a year from now, honest! Still hire me, please...?" 

Anyone in a similar situation?

Apologies for the delay in my response - I've been out of range of internet for quite a while -  but thank you for the responses above! I have tons of evidence, so whilst I'm sure I'll be flagged for an interview, I hopefully won't have any problems other than perhaps having to give some lengthy explanations. Many thanks again for your help and advice!

Happy new year!

My green card 'anniversary' is not until November (2017), but I'm currently abroad doing fieldwork. My wife and I are both PhD students, and both doing our fieldwork research here in Africa. We were here for three months last summer (2016), came back to the US for a couple of weeks, and have been here again since October (2016). We will take a quick trip home to the USA for Easter later in the year, but apart from this we will be here in Africa until mid-November. We'll arrive back in the States a couple of weeks before our deadline to file the i751, so we will be able to take care of that and mail it as soon as we get back. We've been together here the whole time, so I anticipate no problems in that regard. My only concern is that we will have been out of the country for about 17 months out of 24. Should we expect any problems in regards to this? I know we need to show that I intended to make the USA my home - we are still affiliated with our university in the States and are registered with the University on 'study abroad' programs, and we will be returning to our university to write our theses. I can't find any rules anywhere that suggest that we will have any problems, but I wanted to see if there was anyone else out there who has spent significant time abroad before applying to remove conditions.
Many thanks, and I hope 2017 is off to a great start for everyone!

Hello everyone,

A bit late with my update, but here it is: got home last Saturday (11/28), after having been away visiting the in-laws for Thanksgiving. Green card was sitting there in the mailbox!!

Thus ends my journey for now. I'll have to do the next step 2 years from now.

Many thanks to everyone on here for all their help - this would have been so much harder and more stressful without several people's input and guidance. Thank you all, and very best of luck with the remainder of your journeys! I'll still check back on here every now and then to see if I can help anyone out.

Just had my interview today (Milwaukee office) and green card was approved! Officer said green card should arrive in 2-4 weeks. Very laid back interview, really friendly guy, we talked about him as much as we talked about us! He only asked to see our passports for ID, and then asked for my I-693, as I hadn't sent it in ahead of time. Then he asked some very basic questions about ourselves, and didn't ask us any questions about each other. We were probably in there for 15 minutes or so, but only because we were having such a nice conversation with him. Hopefully green card will arrive without any problem, and with luck before Christmas!
Good luck to everyone else approaching the end of their journeys, and many thanks to everyone on this forum! This forum made it sooooo much easier to get through all the steps. Thank you all!!!!

Seems like everyone is getting their EADs before their interviews? I didn't realise that was the order. My interview just scheduled - received the letter on Saturday, telling me it will be last week of November. No EAD yet, hopefully I'll hear about that soon...!
Congrats to everyone else who's got their EAD already!

I was told that after your packet is deemed complete, it's up to the timing of your local office for an interview. That's why some people will get them quicker, and others will take longer. All our interviews are in different places, so timing for interviews will not be the same.

Thanks for your reassuring thoughts - I guess, as always, patience is the key!! Or for me, going back to not thinking about it. On with life!

Hey all,

I just got my EAD approved! Woot! Woot!

Congrats!!!

Did my biometrics on 9/29, but case has still not updated online. Bit odd? Most people's seem to update to 'scheduling for interview' within 7 days of their biometrics.

Hey y'all got my interview notice in mail. Interview is scheduled for Oct 29 at 2:15 PM at the Mount Laurel, NJ office. We have started to prepare gathering our originals:

An advice to all, if you have to order additional copies of Birth Certificate or Marriage Certificates, do so today as it took us 4 weeks to ship our Marriage Certificate!

For NYC you can order online through VitalCheck and they can expedite the shipping/processing for a slightly additional fee.

Just thought I'd share..

Thanks, and good luck!

Biometrics later on this week - woohoo! I only have to take myself and my biometrics letter, correct? I'll probably take my passport too, just to be on the safe side. Hope everyone is making steady progress

Yeah, until the biometrics everything went godspeed and after that, it's been a drag! My local CIS office would be either Newark or Mt. Laurel in New Jersey! What about you?

Milwaukee for me!

40 Days since I sent in my application packet!

Frustration mounting..

No interview date yet, Amuthan? You got your biometrics done quickly, at least! Which office will you be doing your interview in?

I'm waiting on my letter with biometrics appointment. Back in full swing at school, so I hope they let me change my time and date if there's a clash and I can't make it!

Received text and email NOA today - finally up and running, woohoo!

Hello all,
I just crept in for the deadline for this thread - I filed yesterday (August 31st)! Filed I-130, I-485 (with a joint sponsor), I-131, and I-765. Fingers crossed for no RFEs and a quick and painless journey ahead

Good luck to all August filers, and to everyone else!

No. "You are using the income of someone else" means you (the sponsor) are "using" (for the purposes of your sponsorship) a household member for your household income on your I-864. The OP is not using anybody's income on his I-864 -- his entire I-864 does not mention anybody's income except his own. The OP's sponsorship does not involve anyone else. That someone else may separately sponsor the immigrant is not relevant to the OP's sponsorship or the OP's I-864.

I'm not sure I understand you here, my apologies. I didn't think I fill out an I-864 for myself? My income is all from scholarships, so they don't show up as earnings on my tax return, meaning my earnings are technically $0. That's why I'm using a joint sponsor. So I was not going to fill out an I-864 for me at all. Just my wife is going to file one, (because she has to as my spouse and petitioner), and then my mother-in-law, (who is the joint sponsor and the one who can show the necessary $$ on her tax return).

I think, though, what you're saying is that 'joint sponsor' refers to anyone else on that same specific I-864 (i.e. other household members), not for anyone else also filing I-864 as part of the overall application. In which case, I'm inclined to agree with you. But correct me if I've misunderstood.

Yeah, it's point 3 that seems to be causing disagreements, and that is the exact same point that confused me too. For me, the grey area in '3. you are a joint sponsor' is what 'joint sponsor' specifically refers to in this instance.

Obviously, my mother-in-law is a joint sponsor. She's filled out her I-864. That bit is easy.

But is my wife also called a 'joint sponsor' in this context? The fact that there is one other joint sponsor means that by extension, yes, my wife literally becomes a joint sponsor. But in terms of official forms and titles or labels for this application, is she considered a 'joint sponsor'? Or is she the 'main sponsor' or 'original sponsor', and the mother-in-law the 'joint sponsor'? Or are they both 'joint sponsors'? I know this becomes all rather semantical at this point, but clearly it's an issue that has divided opinions amongst us good folk here at VJ!

My gut instinct is that my wife is my 'main sponsor', and my mother-in-law is my 'joint sponsor', meaning my wife can file an I-864EZ. But I could very easily be swayed to believe otherwise.

There's a good chance that it doesn't even matter and either form would be acceptable. I'm a simple case: no children, no relatives petitioning with me. It's just little ol' me being sponsored, so all the pertinent info would be included on either form.

...But we all fear those RFEs!!

Thank you for the ongoing interest and discussion. I look forwards to the day I'm on the other side of this and helping others!

Nowhere does it say that you as the petitioner cannot use I-864EZ if the immigrant also has a joint sponsor. Question 1b is about whether you are only using your income for the purpose of your Affidavit of Support, which is true in this case (since there would be no point to use anything else since there is a joint sponsor anyway).

Yeah, I'd originally thought that might be the case too. Seems opinions are divided thus far. Is there anyone out there with firsthand experience, per chance?

Thank you both!!

You definitely do not have to include I-693 in your initial submission… you used to have to, but due to a USCIS policy change where the I-693 results are only valid for 1 year, they now allow you to submit it later or at the interview. NOLO published a legal update for their book about this:

Thank you!

Apologies for two posts in one day. I've been reading and re-reading everything so much that I've now got to the point where I can't see the forest for the trees!!

I'm using a joint sponsor for my affidavit of support (my mother-in-law). She has already done her I-864 and I've got that all ready to go. Just now working on my wife's affidavit (she's a USC), and I'm not sure if I should be doing the 864 or the 864EZ.

I think ordinarily I would use the 864EZ, but given that I'm also using a joint sponsor, can I still use the 864EZ for my wife, or should I just do another regular 864?

Many thanks as always for all your help. This site is so helpful, and I'm getting sooooooo close!!

If you want to avoid delaying the AOS process why not include it? Per the guides on this website it is part of the I-485 package: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

Edit: added link

I take your point. I was hoping that if I can indeed submit without it, then my forms will be in the mail by this weekend. Otherwise, I'll have to wait for however many days or weeks to get an appointment and get the I-693 taken care of, and THEN send everything off.

By submitting without the I-693, I can be getting my I-693 taken care of whilst everything else is already processing, thus streamlining the process.

But if I can't get any reassuring advice that I can leave out the I-693 for now, then your suggestion is most likely the most sensible. A stitch in time saves 9, I suppose!

This is the official blurb from the USCIS website:

If you are applying for adjustment of status, you may submit Form I-693 in one of the following ways:

• Submit Form I-693 by mail, together with your Form I-485, Application to Register for Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, to the location specified for your Form I-485 (see “Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-485”).
• Submit Form I-693 by mail, after filing your Form I-485, to the location specified in your most recent communication with USCIS (for example, a Request for Evidence letter from USCIS).
• Submit Form I-693 in person, at an interview in a USCIS field office (if an interview is required).

But all the guides on here, as you rightly pointed out, say that you have to submit I-693 along with everything else. This is where my uncertainty stems from.

Hello everyone,

Still wading through my AOS application (from F1 to GC), and finding some conflicting info between official guidelines and different posts on here. I was just wondering if anyone had any personal experience...

I married a USC and am studying here in the US, and will be filing my 130, 485, 765, 131 in just a few days. It is my understanding that I can leave out the I-693 and take it along to my interview. My plan is to wait for an interview date to be sent to me, and then go immediately to get my I-693 taken care of, to have ready in time to present at my interview.

I think I can do this. But some people seem to suggest I can't. I really don't want to delay my application while I get an I-693 taken care of, I'd rather get everything else sent off and get myself into the system and get the process started. But I also want to get everything right first time!

Does anyone have any advice based on personal experience? Other thoughts and advice always welcomed too.

Thank you!