Joe47

I am finding some conflicting information. What I am seeing, and correct me if I am wrong, says they can not reverify an actual Greencard, but they can reverify the temporary stamp. Or am I getting something wrong? If some one could help me? I was going to see my Generalmanager later today to figure it out. 

I am looking at the I-9 instructions right now. Sadly I can't find any information. Am I just blind?

Thanks for all the replies!

I been told bey my employer (Best Buy) that I would need the stamp to keep my employment. I know (I been told by an Immigration Agent) that I wouldn't need the stamp to keep working with the same employer but I am being told by my employer that I need the stamp. Do you guys have some laws I could throw at them?

Second: If my local office takes walk ins, how would I find out?  

As some of you know I just applied to remove conditions. Sadly I never arrived my Greencard in the mail (it's a big mess). Now I have a temporary stamp in my passport that will run out in a few weeks. I have not been able, so far, to make an Infopass appointment to get a new stamp (so I can keep working). All appointments are scheduled out for two weeks. Is there any other way to get in there without an appointment? To make an "emergency" appointment so to speak? (I checked other branches in driving distance but everyone seemed to be booked out.)

I don't want to seem ungrateful for your guys advice, I really appreciate the willingness of everyone to help, but there is some stuff we simply can not afford right now. My wife currently has medical bills out the a**.  

The problem with all of these right now is that we can't afford all that. We have it set up at our doctors office that I am my wife's emergency contact and she is mine, but right now we can't go to a lawyer and pay them 300$ to make it official. We just managed to safe up the fee for the Greencard. Anything else we could do?  

Any other ideas what I could attach? 

When I didn't have my physical greencard and my work permit ran out my employer was super weird about what they would take. The only thing they really could take was the stamp or a physical card. Can I, after apply, make an Infopass appointment and get a new stamp?

The problem with for example car insurance is my parents in law are paying for that. We do have a car, which I am paying for, but since I do not have any credit, my mother in law had to co sing. So my name officially does not appear on the car. Travel information is not there too. The only place we really go is Seattle to visit my father in law. Who talks about that in his letter. That's about it. 

Hello everyone,

the two years are almost over and the time has come to apply to remove the condition from my green card. I have a few questions though.

First:

I never got my physical Greencard. I have applied for a replacement over a year ago. Nothing happened on that. It still says that they got it and they are "working" on it. I have one of those temporary stamps in my passport currently. Two questions on that, I need a copy of my Greencard attached to the application to remove conditions. I assume I can make a copy of the stamp for that? And second question on that, the temporary stamp will run out in June. Meaning my employer will need to see new work authorization. I assume I will never get a replacement for my first card, and the new one will not be here until the stamp runs out. Can I get a new stamp? So I can keep working?

Second:

Just wanted to see if what we currently have for evidence would be good. 

We have 4 letters from friends family and co workers. One from my mother in law and one from my father in law. Both notarized. Then we have a letter from friends who were witnesses at our wedding and we were witnesses at theirs. Other than that I have a letter from my supervisor. 

After that we have a joint account in which we pool our money for expenses. We have renters insurance together and we are renting a place (obviously :D). I will attach those to the application too.

Other then that we have pictures.

Anything else we need?

Hey, it's me again. Little status update: We are still budding heads with the post office. Now a new problem: I started working on my work permit which will run out in three months today. Since we been fighting with the post office we have not yet applied for a replacement. I am going to do that today or tomorrow. I seen that it can take six months to get the replacement, I would loose my job if it took that long is there a way to speed up the process?

Little update. Like I said above we got approved and the post lost my card. I have not received the card. Everything we tried, the post office did an investigation, the immigration office did an investigation now they are passing the responsibility back and forth, "Ask the post office" immigration says "Ask immigration" says the post office. Frankly I do not want to pay 365 $ (plus maybe the 85 $ for bio metrics) to file for an I 90, a replacement for something I never received. I just started working after this whole process took so long and I am only part time for now, 365 $ is a lot of money. Does anyone have an idea? Some exception? Lawyers? I have no idea.

So funny thing. Our interview was a month ago. I still have not received the card. So I got suspicious and checked my status online ( I tried that a few times before and it just said "Site can't be reached."). On the USICS and USPS site it says the card has been delivered on August 17th. So we went through everything, maybe it got mixed in somewhere, nothing. I have no idea what to do. I mean yeah clearly call the post office but they probably will say it was delivered, since it says so on their page.

We payed around 1500 for the paperwork itself and another 300 for the doctor visit.

The interview went really well, if you know who you are, and if you are really in a relationship there is nothing to worry about.

So it went very well, it took about 15-20 minutes. She asked us standard things first. My name, birth date, those kind of things. Then she asked us about our relationship, when and how we met, stuff like that. Then she wanted to see "proof" of our relationship. We showed her pictures and she asked us where we were during those pictures and who was in it, if it was more than us. She took a look at some cards we got for Christmas and birthdays. Then she told us that she would approve us.

My wife and I are almost at the end of the process. We got married on August 10th last year, and I interview is tomorrow on the 9th of August. For us it took a little bit longer because we had to save up the money for the paperwork, but in general it will take 4-6 months.

I have a similar..ish situation. I got married during the 90 days VWP, on August 10th last year, our interview appointment is tomorrow. You should not have any problems. Even if you don't file within the 90 days. I agree with EM_Vandaveer the lawyers want you to hire them, that's why they are scaring you.

Our one year anniversary is coming up on August 10th, the interview is tomorrow. This whole thing has been going for a year. Very frustrating.

So we have some last minute questions:

My mother in law is my co sponsor and we have to bring proof of her citizenship, I am guessing a copy of her passport and/or her birth certificate is enough? Just want to make sure so we can get this thing going.

And my wife is super worried about the interview, she is afraid that they will split us up, stuff like that. Any encouraging words for her?

Fingerprints and picture have been taken!

But now I got a letter yesterday, technically we fall below the poverty line. I say technically because we do not have to pay rent or for food, while we are living with my wife's parents. Since they go purely by income, not by what expenses you have they say "You are below the poverty line.". The problem now is that my wife's parents are not fans of filling out the paperwork (I-864). So I am not sure how to handle that.

Another route we have now is that my wife has taken a second job, can she just "re" fill a I 864 with her new income?

We got the IRS stuff worked out. Was a lot of work, we went to a free tax help, three to be exact, without getting what we needed. Then we went to the IRS itself , they told us I couldn't get an ITIN since I was eligible for a social security number. Then we went to the SS office there we got a letter of rejection, because I did not have the necessary paperwork to get a SSN, with that letter we went back to the IRS and then they mailed it out.

So done with the tax stuff!

Now, I got a letter from Homeland Security, tomorrow I have my appointment to get my Biometrics taken. I was wondering what exactly that entails. I mean I know it will be fingerprints, what else? How long does it take on average? And does anyone know about the security there? My wife is not a fan of going through that stuff, last time the guy snapped her bra....

If I may chime in. The IRS don't report "illegals" all IRS cares about is getting their money. They do not report it to USCIS.

That makes sense! Thank you.

Has anyone actually filed a W7 yet? We are getting conflicted information. We went to a free tax help thing today (and last week) and no one was able to help us.

So finally the paperwork is out! We mailed it on the 21. and it, according to the post office, arrived on the 25. Now we wait!

Thank you we will do that. I was just worried that Immigration will be like:" AHA! There he is!"

I have another question, regarding the payment. My wife wanted to pay with her credit card. In the guide it says the field offices accept most cards, my question is how does it work exactly? We are sending the whole thing to Chicago, right? So we can pay at our local office but....how do the Chicagonites know? Do we get some kind of confirmation?

Ok, maybe she can get a second job.

But I have to ask why, when you decided to marry, stay and adjust and saw the fees, you did not abandon that plan, return home and start the CR-1. Waiting is not going to make the fees go away. If anything, they will increase.

Tell her parents you cannot afford to pay any rent for a few months because you need to get this done. Do either of you have a credit card? Sell stuff on eBay? Did you leave a car or anything substantial behind that you could have someone sell for you and send you the money? Do you have family who can lend you the money?

Yes $2000 is a lot when you don't have it. If someone asked me right now to hand over that amount I wouldn't be able to. But if it was pay or be here illegally, I'd sell the chair I am sitting on if I had to.

Well, we did not see the fees until it was too late. We expected maybe 500 $.

We got some help from friends and family. We are sending out the paperwork tomorrow.

Now a new problem has arisen. My wife has to file her taxes. As far as we know she has to file married, makes sense so far. But for her to do that I need a tax ID number. Which, as far as we know, I only can get when I have the Greencard. I will probably not get the card before she has to file. She tried to call the IRS just now but after 40 minutes waiting on hold they hung up on her. Other times she called they did NOT at all get what she was saying. Does anyone know if I really need the ID number, or if she can file married without the number.

If you think 2k is a lot think of how much it will cost if immigration picks you up.

It is not like we are rich and we are saying we are to fancy to pay this ridiculous fee. It is simply that we do NOT HAVE 2K right now.

Indeed. I have to question why OP even overstayed in the first place if his partner could not be responsible to file an immediate aos.

A few month ok, but it's been nearly 6. How much did you lose not using the return ticket?

Not as much as for another ticket back here. The flight here with at return was around 1.2k and a single flight was around 2.5 to 3k. So I should have taken the flight back then paid another 2.5 for a ticket back and 2k for the paperwork? The whole getting married on a waiver is a spontaneous thing. Do people usually plan out when they are spontaneous? Yes we did not think it through, but it is what is is now. We did simply not know that there would be fees out the a**. It hit us like a shock when we saw the total costs.

I think it's bad planning but what can you do? You're pretty much stuck now. It's because we cannot afford for me to be unable to work for a long period that we did the IR-1 so that I can stay here in the UK and carry on working and will be able to work as soon as I arrive.

I'm sure if you explain the seriousness of this situation to someone - a friend or relative - then someone will lend 2 grand. Maybe someone can draw it from a credit card and you can make monthly repayments.

I know it's hard to be apart. My husband and I have never been together for more than 3 weeks and we've been married over a year now. But you should have thought this through a bit better if money is such an issue. What's a few months apart when you have the rest of your lives together? Aren't you living with her folks? Where's all the money going if you're not paying a market rent? Maybe she will have to cycle to work. It depends how badly you want this.

Like I said we have to talk to people to get a loan somehow.

Cycling to work is not such a goof idea, because my wife has dislocated her knee twice, and needs a knee brace to walk and her work is 30-40 minutes over the freeway. So not doable.

You need to file asap. Borrow the money from her parents. Sell your computer or car if you have to. The sooner you file, the better. Although you are an immediate relative and overstays are forgiven in that case, you still need to file. And the quicker you get it done, the quicker you can get a job. It's almost 6 months since you first posted.

Well the computer I am using already belongs to her parents, and we can not sell any car, my wife uses it to go to work every day. Borrowing might be an option, we have to talk to them.

The costs of ridiculous? $2k is nothing to ensure your safety.

If you do not have 2K it does not matter what it gets you. We simply do NOT have 2K. So yes I think it is ridiculous. If I could work, yeah it would be a few months to get the money together, but with only one of us working, it takes time.