mrslibbers

Can you add me to this group please?

California Service Center

Mailed 01/08/2018

Received 01/11/2018

NOA Notice Date 01/11/2018

I didn't receive until 01/16/2018

First off- don't be too nervous!! You've made it to this step and are so close to having a couple year break from immigration papers..yay!

Our interview was about an hour and a half drive away. Because of this I brought everything. I mean EVERYTHING haha. I had a copy of our I-129F petition, every notice we have ever received and then a copy of the AOS/EAD/AP package as well. I used two accordion files. The first had what I just listed and the second was all full of evidence of our bonafide marriage. I would take as much as you can. It is way better to have too much and just take it back home than not have what is needed by the immigration officer. We brought my husband's (the US citizen) birth certificate and it wasn't asked for at all but I think they might have been an oversight.

We left early to find parking etc and to go through security in the building. Our interview lasted 6 minutes if that! The immigration officer was very nice and it was a casual conversation.

We were interviewed together. At the start we were both sworn in to confirm all our answers were the truth. After that it was her asking questions about how we met, our engagement, our wedding and about my husband's work (he works out of state and away from our home base). I found it a bit awkward as she asked the questions to both of us but we didn't know who should answer so we just ended up taking turns and adding information if one of us forgot it in the original answer.

Then she asked me the questions in the I-485 about being arrested, terrorism, etc. After that she asked if we had evidence of our marriage and comingling.

From what I remember we provided: bank statements showing that both names are on the account, our lease in both names, copies of our auto and home insurance policies in both names, utility bills in joint names, most recent Verizon printout showing how often we talk to each other (43 pages!), pictures from various moments in our relationship (I just printed these at Walmart and wrote the month and year and location on the back in pen) and also a copy of our wedding invitation and thank you cards.

To the interview I wore a sweater dress with tights and black boots and my winter jacket as it was a cold day. My husband wore dress pants and a nice sweater. I would have called our attire dress casual, just like you are going to a job interview.

Good luck! If you have anymore questions let me know.

Thank you for all the replies- very helpful, I think we have decided we are going to wait until my GC is in hand before heading out. I appreciate all you VJ-ers!

And I posted in the wrong forum!

Hi there,

My EAD/AP combo card was just approved and the card (or might be cards as they were approved different dates and shipped separately as well) is on its way right now.

However, our AOS interview is very soon on February 16.

We are wanting to try to take our long awaited honeymoon before I start working here as it will just make everything easier in the long run.

My question is if we go to Mexico and I have the AP (as that's all I would have at the time) would I be able to re enter the USA with that card if, at this point, my green card has been issued and mailed while we've been away? We will be flying out of Vancouver, BC Canada as it is very economical with the dollar right now.

Thanks in advance for your help! I don't want to leave the country if it's going to be a problem. In that case we would just wait until I have the GC in hand.

Oh I'm definitely having troubles adjusting so far!

I've been here since August and our green card interview is next month so I feel like after that things will start to get better. When I first got down here it wasn't so bad as there was tons of wedding things to get done as our wedding was a month and a half from when I did my POE. Also there was just lots to do with setting up our home as well.

I have the most trouble with living alone most of the time as my husband works currently in North Dakota in the oil fields and we are unable to be together as much as we both would like. I struggle the most with this because it didn't affect me as much when I was still in Canada because I had my whole life there: my job, family and friends so being away from each other wasn't as hard. I think it's the idea in my head of how things were going to be that makes me the most upset. He was supposed to get a job in our hometown by now but because of immigration costs and the fact that I'm not able to work he continues to work over there right now! We are hoping and trying our hardest for him to get a job at home in the next couple months at the latest as we tired of the long distance relationship, now marriage.

My best friend from Canada has a boyfriend that lives in the same town as where I moved to in Idaho! Crazy story..but we both met our significant others at a music festival in Washington and they are good friends as well. So she's been down to visit quite a bit and we get to spend a lot of time together which takes my mind off the struggles of being away from my husband. That's been super nice!!

It's also been hard paying $300/month for health insurance To think I used to pay about $40 for my MSP (in BC) is crazy to think about now!

I also don't have any identification with my married last name. I had an Idaho ID card that expired 11 days after I received it (when my K1 visa was set to expire) and my bank card has our married name on it so I have to carry our marriage certificate with me wherever I go haha!

I miss my family and friends, working, Timmy's, Just Right cereal, RECYCLING , my favourite pasta salad mix and a bunch more stuff that I can't thing of right now.

Thankful for the whole VJ community throughout all this!!!

It's really not that bad to DIY if you have a pretty straight forward case. It does depend if you have had previous marriages/deportations/any children etc of course. For our specific case we didn't have any previous marriages or children and have had no problems with the borders previously.

Also since you're not able to work until you've received your authorization to it made sense to us to do it ourself. I did almost all of the paperwork as my husband works in a different state and comes home only every few weeks. I completed it with help from the guides on this website and if you have a questions about a certain part or section you can always just put a post on to see if anyone is able to help. We have our interview next month and haven't received an RFE at all. Just make sure to triple check all the paperwork before sending as I find that I focus so much on the meticulous information that sometimes there was easy mistakes that I noticed only after the second or third check though.

I have nothing to say but positive things about how helpful this site has been throughout our whole immigration process so far!

We saved quite a bit of money by not having to hire a lawyer or immigration service which was worth it for our situation. However, everybody is different and it really is a personal decision. Good luck!

It took about 5 days for our AOS/AP/EAD cheque to be deposited after being delivered to the lockbox.

I wouldn't worry about it too much! I'm sure they haven't tried to take it out yet and you changed the money over in time. And believe me I know about being frustrated with your husband during this process...when we filed our K1 my man sent our whole huge package off via regular mail and I thought it was lost forever.

Apply for multi-trip Advanced Parole.

As for the date intended to travel I just put the date that I was hoping to be able to have it by. I filed the very start of Nov 2015 and hope to have it in the said 3 months so I put February 1.

Just put your new last name on all the application forms that you send in. Where there is a box/section that asks about previous names just put in your maiden last name (don't forget your first and middle names too haha).

That and your marriage certificate is enough to prove a legal name change. Also my maiden name is on the marriage certificate as well because it is who applied for the certificate. At the time of application (before your marriage) that was your last name.

Good luck!

Recycling and the lack of it!!

Before I moved here we recycled everything down to the little yogurt containers and plastic spoons etc.

Now I have 3 huge boxes of recyclable items on our patio just waiting to be recycled. The problem is that here there is no recycling centers the closest I could take it is to the next state over.

I have to go to Spokane for Biometrics next week so my carload full of plastics/cardboards/newspapers will be making a one way trip

received my biometrics appointment letter (not sure if today or yesterday though) for december 8th!

Hey we have biometrics on the same day That's great.

Received my letter on November 30!

Hi there,

So im in NJ and just sent off all my AOS stuff. As a married couple, I can now join my spouses work health insurance. However, its adding $600 per month onto her plan (for her alone its much much less).

Is there any other way to get insurance until I get a job?

Can I get my own insurance - from what I have seen you need to specify income which I currently cant do.

Free medical aid will take months to arrange.

Travel insurance? Although im no longer a visitor - more like a resident in limbo

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hi there,

I recently went through the same scenario so I thought I could be helpful. In order to be added onto my husband's health insurance through his work it was going to be upwards of $500 extra per month.

I had also looked at the "immigrant" policies that are much like travel insurance you buy for a certain amount of time etc and the coverage isn't that great. As a previous insurance broker in Canada I realized that this wasn't something to gamble with as medical bills can get very costly.

What I ended up doing was going to a health insurance broker. She specializes in this type of insurance and was wonderful to work with. Just make sure you have your SSN, marriage certificate and a couple different documents showing that you are now residing in the USA. For example I got a statement of our bank account showing that both names are on it (I blacked out the dollar amounts) and also she took a copy of our car insurance as my name is on that as well.

I'm sure if you Google that you can find somebody local to you and then get started! It was really nice to be able to ask her questions regarding this and she said it wasn't a problem to get me insurance. When I applied I hadn't yet filed for my AOS.

Also, I'm in Idaho and it ended up being with Blue Cross of Idaho (which is what my husband's work is with but in Wyoming) and is about $240.00 so it is worth it to research and look around!

Hope that helps, let me know if you have anymore questions about this.