lacolinab13

​Can some one explain to me what a service request is? Thanks!!!!

Since the EAD is supposed to be processed within 90 days of receipt, if your I-765 case (EAD) has been pending for more than 75 days, you can submit a service request per USCIS. See this link ( https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do). Hopefully, these service requests actually prompt them to take action.

I just submitted one today since today is day 76 by my count (might be day 75 by USCIS's count). We'll see what happens.

I was planning on calling USCIS tomorrow afternoon if nothing arrives in the mail. Service request to follow if necessary.

Still waiting for interview to be scheduled.....ready to do that as of Oct. 19th. on the USCIS website.

I don't think the status "Ready to Schedule Interview" necessarily means one is coming any time soon, unfortunately. Many people stay at that stage for many months, depending on how backed up the local office is.

You can do a really easy service request online - much quicker than waiting for a Tier 2 to call back. I'd do that first and then call.

Hmm you're right , waiting until i go to the us might be a good option but that's a 1.5/2 year wait i don't know if i can keep going with this

, with that said i'm living in egypt and as you might know egypt has the highest rate of hepatitis C so it is surely concerning to go to a dentist over here,

i don't know really i might just wait it out it's not that bad tbh

Ok - I thought you were further along with the process. As others have said, Hepatitis C is not a problem for the visa however I'd be more concerned about contracting it regardless of the visa. Is there a reputable dental clinic (for example, a place where expats might go)? I imagine there must be a couple places with very good standards - if this is at all affordable for you, I'd try to make an appointment there.

If the only reason you are worried about Hepatitis C is your fear that you might get it from your visit to the dentist's office, I really think you are fretting over nothing.

If you are concerned about a doctor using dirty/old needles on you, you can request that he open a new needle in front of you. I did that when I went to the hospital in Peru; made people grumpy, but I wasn't taking any chances. If you cannot trust your dentist to properly sterilize his instruments, I would just wait to see a dentist until you go to the US. Cleanliness of medical equipment is basically not a concern in the US.

I've been checking my case status several times a day....and nothing yet. The EAD is the one that we need right now.....

Have you made a service request? Since your case has been pending more than 75 days you definitely should.

I don't really see any straight dependency on either MSC number or received date because I constantly see cases both behind and in front of my number and received date approved. Almost all EAD cases ~10 numbers close to mine were approved by the end of last week. But yeah, today they are kinda slow working/updating cases online.

They definitely don't approve them in the order they were received, but cases close to one another do tend to move together. I've been looking up the 500 case numbers after mine since the beginning, and lots of RFEs got sent out around the same time in mid-late September, then a few approvals for EAD/AP started trickling in mid-October, but in the last ten days of October tons of EAD/AP cases were approved, a number of interviews for I-485 scheduled. There are always some outliers - a case that gets approved way ahead of the pack and some that really lag, but in general people with similar dates get approved around the same time (give or take a week or two - which I know feels like forever when you're just waiting for the approval!).

I am checking around 100 cases near ours...seems like today is a slow day compared to last week. Anyone else seeing much action?

No action in my 500 case section (my received date is August 19th). Maybe they will update later tonight.

Personally, I think makes sense to call if there is a specific issue, but no sense to call "just to check on things" if everything is still within normal processing times.

As for my husband's AOS, today is day 74, still no news on EAD/AP. I plan on making the online service request tomorrow if we don't hear anything tonight. I'm a bit disheartened as I've been tracking the 500 cases after ours in the app and the overwhelming majority have had their EADs approved in the past couple weeks, but at the same time we always planned on 90 days so nothing to complain about so far. I've been encouraging my husband to apply to jobs as we could always expedite if he got a job offer, but he seems a bit shy about it.

We got an RFIE, the response to which was received about a month ago, and I'm worried that is going to delay the EAD processing. I'm quite annoyed about it actually because we had already sent them literally everything they asked for in the RFIE, and more. When I spoke to a Tier 2 person on the phone after getting the RFIE, she told me the papers had just probably been misplaced. Sigh.

We went to SS office last week to apply for my SSN but I was only told that that they can't process my application yet bcoz they need the red card once my EAD is approved.

I would go back and argue with them - K1s absolutely can get SSN before applying for AOS, as long as you have enough time remaining on your I-94, and based on your timeline, you have plenty.

I'm really glad we got my husband's SSN because we needed it to add him to my bank accounts and for him to get a learner's permit (he didn't drive in his country).

I had no luck. Will try again tomorrow.

I might actually do what you guys did regarding the form, lacolinab13. That might work. Thanks!

What do you mean you had no luck? What happened? Did they turn you away?

Thank you, all. Just filling out the form and I don't know what applies to me.. is it "Legal alien allowed to work" or "not allowed to work"? I'm not allowed to work yet so I assume the latter, meaning I need a statement from some governmental place that shows why I need a SSN.

In my opinion, it's legal alien allowed to work (and that's the way we filled my husband's out) - that's why it says "legal alien allowed to work" under K1 in that classification chart on the SS site (the link below). You are allowed to work, just need DHS authorization, and that's why the card will have that line about being valid only with DHS authorization.

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0110211530

Yes, I agree, bring your passport and I-94. My husband did not need his birth certificate. You can print out the application and fill it out at home, and bring it with you, or they have a bunch at the office. Just make sure to have filled out the application before they call your number so as not to waste time. My husband and I went the day after he arrived on his K1, no problem. He got the card a week later.

Did other people have there Bios taken in their country of origin or in the U.S. at the border? Mine was done at the Border after they went through my 129F, that was the last step then I was good to go.

I really don't think there is any connection between fingerprints taken at CBP when you enter the country, and the AOS process. Everyone has to get biometrics at a local USCIS office to go through the adjustment of status process. The Tier 1 customer service reps on the USCIS lines are notoriously uneducated about the process and will tell all sorts of completely wrong things. Don't believe anything they say.

(For example, my husband got prints taken both at this K-1 interview and when he arrived in the US, and he had biometrics last month for the I-485).

You can expect the EAD within 90 days from the "received date" on your notice of acceptance. The received date is usually the day after your package is delivered to them.

So for you, if they received your case on August 15th, your EAD should be approved by something like Nov 12th or 13th.

My I-485 online status just updated to"Request For Initial Evidence" (Day 38), I guess it's my husband's tax return issue.

My husband never filed taxes since he worked in china for past 6 years and he just got his first job in USA this month, so he didn't submit tax return. but his dad is our joint sponsor who has sufficient income, so we only submit his dad's i-864 and tax return etc. so what my husband and I should to do if RIFE letter requires my husband's tax return? any advises? thanks for your help in advance.

Even if you have a joint sponsor, your husband is still the primary sponsor, and still needs to fill out an I-864 and provide either a tax return or an explanation of why he did not have to file a return. Living abroad doesn't exempt you from having to file taxes (though earning less than a minimum threshold does, varies by filing status).

Sometimes people get approved during the interview or right afterwards, sometimes the case needs further review and a decision is not made for a while. It all depends (though generally cases are approved at or shortly after the interview). Congrats to everyone who has seen progress on their case!

One will not test positive on a marijuana drug test from exposure to second hand smoke (brief exposure at that). I also have to say I have never heard of anyone feeling buzzed or high from smelling second hand smoke from another room. If your fiance did not smoke himself, then there was absolutely NO need to postpone a medical exam as he would not test positive on any drug test.

(Some info about second hand smoke and drug tests, one of many many sources that concur on the internet):

http://www.newsweek.com/could-second-hand-pot-smoke-make-you-fail-marijuana-test-278913

I don't know any specifics about the Dublin embassy, but the general MO is that they ask people if they are drug users or have used drugs in the past, and answering yes may trigger a drug test and a ban - depending on the level of use, the doctor doing the medical, the country it's happening in, and all sorts of factors. As at any point during the immigration process, you should not lie.

I sent three years of tax transcripts for both me (US spouse) and the joint sponsor, and got an RFIE asking for the full copy of the joint sponsor's tax return. So personally, I would probably send the full copy of the return as requested, and not the tax transcripts, as it seems some immigration officers don't consider them to be equivalent. I spoke to a Tier 2 officer on the phone about this and she said most accept tax transcripts as they are "official" but some prefer the full return. (Though she also suggested they might have just lost our papers since literally everything they requested, we had already sent!)

I did it from abroad as have a few friends of mine. You do not need to mail it from the US nor do you need a US mailing address - you can put a foreign mailing address as well. That being said, lots of people choose to have docs sent to the US so that they arrive faster, and because in many countries the mail is not reliable. I put my parents' house as a mailing address, knowing my mother would let me know if anything had arrived and would be fine sending documents if necessary (if we had gotten an RFE etc).

I fee your pain. We also got an RFIE - asking only for docs I had already sent. I spoke to a Tier 2 rep, who agreed that I had already sent the docs but said we needed to send them again. I'm mailing the stuff tomorrow.

As far as I know, you don't add household size of sponsor and joint sponsor. If your wife doesn't satisfy the household income requirements, that's when you use a joint sponsor. Your joint sponsor is not sponsoring your wife. So all you need to do is add yourself (and your dependents if you have any) to your joint sponsor household size and check the income requirement for that. If you don't have dependents, from my calculations, your joint sponsor household size becomes 5.

I agree with this.

We used a joint sponsor:

My (US citizen sponsor) household size is me + husband = 2

Joint sponsor household size is him plus wife plus my husband = 3.

Once you have gotten married, you can get permission to travel (people call it "AP" or advance parole, or a travel document) within about 90 days of filing your paperwork for adjustment of status. If you leave before filing for adjustment of status, or before receiving this travel document after you have applied for adjustment of status, you will have abandoned your green card process and will have to start over abroad with a spousal visa.

Since it takes about 90 days to receive a travel document, if you wanted to have your travel document in hand by June 1st, you would want to file the paperwork at the very least 90 days ahead of time - though 120 days would be much safer as the process can take longer than 90 days if USCIS is just slow, or you can get a request for initial evidence or additional evidence that will delay your process, etc. (My husband just got a request for additional evidence, even though I had already sent literally all the documents the letter is asking for, so even making sure your package is 100% perfect isn't a guarantee that USCIS won't find some sort of issue with it!).

Counting back then, to have your travel document by June 1st, you should really apply no later than February 1st, in my opinion. That means you would need to be married and have your marriage certificate in hand - a process that can take a while in certain states, do some research as it can really vary - and all your papers ready to go by February 1st. If, as you're planning, you get married sometime in March, then that gives you only between 2-3 months to receive your EAD. If you're super lucky you might just get it in time, but if you're not, you'll be stuck here at the last minute and will have wasted the money on the ticket and will have a disappointed family.

As I see it, your choices are to push forward your timeline to marriage, and get married shortly after arriving so that you can apply for adjustment of status as quickly as possible - we filed 5 days after my husband arrived and you could even do it faster - or to keep your original timeline for marriage and miss your nephew's birthday this year.

On the subject of buying your ticket to go TO the US, I personally would feel very comfortable buying a flight in January with an interview scheduled in September (for an Australian K-1). It's absolutely true that nothing is guaranteed until you have the visa physically in hand, but a more than three-month gap between interview and leaving the country is giving you quite a lot of wiggle room, and Australia is not known for long AP. However, buy at your own risk, and if you can make the ticket refundable somehow just in case, then that would be perfect.

When I flew with my cat from Peru to the US in November, the airline wanted to see the health certificate, but the customs officers didn't ask for any paperwork, just took a look at the cat and sent him through. LondonWelsh, I found the same info you did, that there are no federal vaccination requirements for a cat and that state requirements vary (but most have no vaccination requirements either). If it were me, I would probably give the cat the rabies shot now, get a health and vaccination certificate, and then print out the official pages where it says there are no requirements for cats. I think you'll be fine, worse case scenario would be a quarantine but with cats there are really few concerns.

I would wait until it changes to ready - but you can email the embassy and ask. That might help move things along.

The embassy doesn't send an appointment letter. You will need to bring the interview confirmation page - that is generated when you make the appointment online.

Back in 2014 and early 2015 you paid for the DS-160 in cash when you arrived at the embassy for the interview. Now you pay ahead of time through ScotiaBank.

It sounds like you have everything under control now. I wrote a pretty detailed review of my husband's interview in May (you can find it in the Lima embassy reviews) in case that helps. Two quick little tips:1

1. you can pick up your medical exam results 5 business days after the medical, so make sure to leave enough time between your medical date and your interview (at least one calendar week - when you call to schedule the medical appointment they will ask you when your interview is and make sure there's enough time).

2. When you pay for the DS-160 at ScotiaBank, make sure to keep the receipt! They ask for it at the embassy interview even though it's not on the list of required documents.