Sean and Kristina

I posted this in the Visa Journey FB group a few days ago and forgot to post it here:

"Just arrived back home from a holiday in Dubai with my husband. He managed to enter the country with his EAD/AP combo card without any issue. Secondary screening took forever because for some reason the Boston airport was busy on a Thursday afternoon. Other than that, nothing outstanding to report."

I've also attached a photo of what the paroled passport stamp looks like. Hope this helps put some of your minds at ease!

Congrats!

Looking at the USCIS processing times I don't think we'll get ours anytime soon :-(

I don't believe those processing times. Boston is listed as processing applications from June 9, 2015 for I-485 and my priority date is October 7, 2015. Definitely take those dates with a grain of salt.

After 4 months of waiting since our case status read "case ready to be scheduled for interview", our interview is scheduled for April 20th!

After 4 months of waiting since our case status read "case ready to be scheduled for interview", our interview is scheduled for April 20th!

Thanks for the clarification!

We filed for my husband to adjust his status from an F-1 visa in early October 2015. He received his EAD/AP combo card on December 30, 2015. We are about to travel abroad for the first time next week. I've assured him that all we need to take are his passport, EAD/AP card, our marriage certificate, his state ID, and our USCIS receipts in order for him to re-enter the country smoothly. (This is only a 6 day trip)

However, he is adamant that since he is still a student actively taking courses that he must have his school update his I-20 before his departure. I disagreed and told him that since he will not be re-entering using the F-1 visa that he doesn't need to do it. I have told him that under no circumstance is he to present his F-1 visa as his document to re-enter the US otherwise he will be viewed as abandoning his AOS.

My question is: would it hurt to have the I-20 updated prior to departure just to prove he is still taking classes like he originally intended prior to filing for AOS? Or will CBP not even care since he has approved AP?

I didn't and I am above the 125% poverty level too. Only included tax returns. I don't believe I even sent in pay stubs.

No RFEs and our case status is "case ready to be scheduled for interview."

Hi everyone, I had my interview at noon today and got approved instantly. The interviewer was so nice and didn't ask us a single question about our marriage. After oath, he asked yes/no questions from 485 and then we chatted about random stuff 30 mins after which he said your green card is approved, good luck. We thanked him, walked out and received a notification that our card is being produced.

Thanks again for all your updates without which we couldn't have been well prepared and ready.

Congratulations to everyone who got approved and good luck to everyone else.

Congratulations! So glad it was seamless for you today. If you don't mind me asking, when did your case get marked as "case ready to be scheduled for interview?" I've been waiting a number of months now and am rather restless and curious about the other big cities processing times.

@Russ&Caro did you file electronically? Unfortunately, I had to paper file mine because I needed to include a statement of election to treat my nonresident alien spouse as a us resident alien.

I included my last three years of tax returns with my I-864 when we filed our entire AOS package in the fall. We just completed our tax return for 2015 and I want to bring this as evidence to our actual AOS interview since it will be the first year we've ever filed taxes as a married couple (MFJ). Will it suffice if I just bring copies of my W-2, 1099s, 1040, and 2555 form? I can't imagine the IRS having time to process our return and then a request for an official transcript during the busiest time in "tax season."

Thoughts?

Thank you so much!!! Luckily I have a more upgraded version of Adobe for my work so maybe I'll be able to edit it even though it's a PDF.

Does anyone have an example for what to write or how to format the resident alien spouse election statement?

No worries, I've done a bit of research already and he can elect to be considered a resident alien for tax purposes this year. Thanks for the reply with your previous experience!

I just chatted with a TaxSlayer representative and they said that I could print the documents and file via mail. So that helps!

Coleman21, you seem to be a year ahead of us in this process. We're currently in the process of filing our taxes using TaxSlayer.com and my husband is in the middle of his AOS from an F-1 visa. We have not filed yet, but wanted to ask you a few questions from your experience:

- Is there any possible way to include the election about residency electronically on TaxSlayer.com?

- Are we supposed to include the foreign income somewhere else on the 1040? Because as of right now when we only enter the foreign income in the "other income" area it is only listed in the exclusion 2555 form and simply subtracting the foreign income from my US income listed on line 7.

Example with fake numbers for ease of use:

W-2 reported income on line 7 = $50,000

Foreign income being excluded is $10,000

which leaves total taxable income to be $40,000.

This seems incorrect, but I do not know where else to include the foreign income since there is no W-2.

Well, it's February 10th...officially three months since my case status was marked as "Case ready to be scheduled for interview" and yet...no interview is scheduled.

*sigh*

Where are you located?

Our status has read "case ready to be scheduled for interview" for the past 3 months. We received the EAD/AP a little over a month after that. See my timeline in my signature block.

Here's my experience thus far that may help:

My husband arrived on an F-1 student visa and we married after completely his first summer semester (he's an overachiever). I immediately added him as an authorized user to all of my credit cards knowingly full well that we'd not only need that for AOS purposes, but also for building his credit score. He received his EAD/AP combo card at the end of the year and once we returned from our holiday we had him apply for his SSN. The card literally arrived in the mail a few hours ago and I immediately contacted American Express, USAA, and Citi Bank to update his information with his new SSN. USAA was accomplished online and the other two phone calls to Amex and Citi were quick and painless. However, when I called Chase to add him to my Chase Freedom card they informed me that "he didn't need a SSN in order to be an authorized user." I replied, "I understand that because he has been an authorized cardholder for the last 9 months or so without a SSN. I'm asking that you now please do add his SSN so that the credit history can be properly reported to the credit bureaus." The agent insisted that they do not do that for authorized cardholders and that the only SSN associated with the account was mine. I informed him that I just did this with Amex and Citi without a problem and further elaborated as to why this is important for building credit score purposes. However, he simply would not budge and said, "Those are two different companies that conduct business in different manners than Chase. Additionally, there is no field for me to input this information even if I could." I wanted to post my experience here to see if anyone else received that response from Chase or if I should call back later with a different representative.

My EAD/AP card was taken at the interview, along with an EAD card that was a few years old.

They'll keep it to avoid fraudulent use.

I'm also adjusting status in Boston, MA like you did. I'm curious if you know what happens if I have an international trip scheduled immediately following a green card interview...do they still take the EAD/AP away or at that point could I show them my purchased ticket and ask for the I-1551 stamp?

I have a follow up question: is it possible to claim any sort of credits or deductions on any of the USCIS filing fees (or attonrey fees) we paid for last year? Probably a stretch, but trying to find every last deduction.

In theory yes. I am having an issue with the FEIE though on both H&R Block and TurboTax. H&R Block is using it to reduce my taxable income giving me a massive refund (which I don't think is right) and TurboTax is taxing the bejeezus out of me almost like it's not considering the exclusion. Anyone else have thoughts?

I did a preliminary run on our taxes on TaxSlayer.com and when I included my husband's foreign income it actually increased our refund...odd. I'm not done investigating, though.

Hmmm...we have an upcoming JetBlue flight returning from Nassau to Boston on President's Day. Any advice for my husband traveling with his EAD/AP combo card? Should we contact the airline first...or would that even help since it seems that this was an airport employee misunderstanding?

On February 1, 2016, your inquiry about the status of your Employment Authorization application, referral number SR**********MSC, was assigned to an officer for response.

Curious...can I file an inquiry regarding the status of my interview getting scheduled? I'd been about 3 months with it reading "case ready to be scheduled for an interview."

This is so helpful! Thanks for taking the time to clarify