lacolinab13

Why can't you just go for a honeymoon somewhere in the USA, for now? You will have all the time in the world to go for a "honeymoon" once he gets his green card and eventually citizenship.As far as Caribbean is concerned,I don't think there is gonna be any issue.

True, but even once he has a green card he will still be an Egyptian citizen and have to obtain visas as such (except for a few countries which may grant special privileges to US green card holders regardless of nationality).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Egyptian_citizens

There are a few countries in the Caribbean and Latin America on that list.

EAD and AP are supposed to be adjudicated within 90 days of your filing date (the received date on your cases). It's trending close to 90 days right now. You can put in a service request on the 75th day.

My package was delivered on the 18th, received date for AP and EAD is August 19th (haven't gotten hard copies of NOA1s), so similar dates to many of the previous posts, and we just got the bio letter today. Appointment is for next Monday, the 19th.

Just read all these posts and checked mine again and now mine are working too! Yay!

My package was received August 18th. Got the texts/emails at 1 AM August 25th. No paper NOA1s, no biometrics letter and the receipt numbers don't work online yet.

It's been two weeks since I got the texts and emails - package was signed for on August 18th, got texts and emails late night August 24th - and I haven't received the NOAs. Worried that they weren't deliverable and that we won't get the biometrics letter either.

I just got turned down by Chase too after I tried to add my husband (K1, arrived 2 weeks ago) to our account. He said we needed an ID with a US address so a state ID or DL. Now that your wife has EAD, she should be able to get a state ID or DL easily.

We we're able to add him at Bank of America with his passport and social security number.

As p-ana said, you didn't have to "declare" any sort of joint sponsor at any stage in the process. If you want a joint sponsor, you just bring their complete I-134 with the necessary supporting docs to the interview.

We used a joint sponsor for my husband (when he was interviewing for his K-1) as I am a student, and he also checked that he would be paying for his trip himself, because, well, he did. That question I think is more relevant for tourist visas, which fill out the same form, than for the K-1.

If, 75 days after they received your AOS/EAD/AP, you have not been approved for your EAD, you can make a service request asking them to adjudicate your EAD. It tends to get things moving a bit and ensures you don't go past the 90 day processing timeframe.

*sigh*

Still waiting on my Biometrics letter. It's nice to see some people are getting their letters quickly. Does the 90 days start from the NOA1 letter

or from the day Biometrics is completed. I know there is some variance, but it would be nice to give my new wife a better answer.....

Oh well, the waiting continues, best of luck to all.

Someone else from Peru

Apparently the 90 days starts from the day they receive the package, not the NOA1 and certainly not the biometrics. So normally you're not losing any time. Seems like you should get your notice soon though.

No she can get her social as soon as she gets here. My wife got her social the week she got here. Then we got married and then changed the name. You do not have to wait til the EAD.

Yes, she could have gotten it right after she arrived, and up until she had at least several weeks remaining on her I-94.

However, since her I-94 has expired, she now unfortunately has to wait for EAD in order to be able to get one. She won't be able to get one with her I-485 NOA1.

Thank you Moslund! Will program a reminder for 75 days from received date, then.

I sent mine on same exact day and they got it on 18th but I haven't got anything yet

I'm sure you will get it soon. I see some people get their NOA1 just a day or two after it was signed for, other 10 or more days after.

Got my three texts and emails a few hours ago at around 1 AM (woke me up). I had sent my package in on the 16th and it was signed for on the 18th, so took just about 6-7 days from delivery to get NOA1. I guess we'll find out soon what the official notice day is.

Question for everyone: When does USCIS start counting the 90 days? Delivery? Notice date? Seems like many on here count from the day the package was delivered, but the processing times on here are about 87 days from NOA1, which kind of implies that's when USCIS starts counting. When do you put in that day 75 service request, if needed?

I think the average on here right now is around 6-7 months for the green card, however there is HUGE variation depending on your local office (and of course, on luck and randomness). You can check processing timelines sorted by local office on here, but for some offices (like mine), there are only a few old data points so you won't learn much. You can also check published processing times for all the USCIS offices online, but they are not updated very often and I'm not sure how accurate they are.

You need to write to the immigrant visa unit in Lima asking if your petition is still valid, but I would assume that it isn't at this point. They are usually valid for four months, renewable in four month increments for up to a year total validity period.

I'm surprised you were able to make an appointment for a K-1 visa without paying first. Sounds off - when we were scheduling in March we could not see any appointments before paying.

If your petition is no longer valid, you will need to start over with another K-1 or a CR-1. Getting legally married in Peru is not that easy and requires a whole set of documents. Doable, but it would take time for you to gather what's needed and you need to do your research well.

When was your I-129f approved? It can only be valid for a max of one year after approval, so make sure you're not running up against that deadline.

As I'm sure your fiancée knows, mail is notoriously unreliable in Peru. She can email the immigrant visa unit in Lima for the letter that lists all the docs she needs to bring. The address is on the embassy website. They reply within a few business days, and no, they do not take any phone calls for visa inquiries, only emails.

Has your fiancée paid the fee at the banco de la nacion? She won't be able to make an appointment until she does. If she has, Keep checking back for appointments. I've heard of this happening at various consulates, where appointments get booked up for a while. I would check every day so that if appointments open up, she can snag one.

Just asked my now husband and he's not sure if they ended up looking at the petition docs. But you are supposed to submit a copy of your NOA2 for AOS. I think I've heard of other people losing them and it being ok. I'd make an info pass appointment at your local office to ask if you need to have it replaced.

Thank you Georgia! I see you just filed yesterday so our EAD/AP will probably be moving along together. I hope they go fast .

I'm new on this thread! Husband POEd last Wednesday, we got married on Monday and just sent out the AOS package a couple of hours ago.

You can get a social security number almost as soon as you arrive. You no longer need to wait two weeks.

My fiancé entered at POE on Wednesday afternoon and we applied for his SSN on Friday morning, no problem.

In most states it's almost pointless to get a driver's license before you have an EAD. You can usually get one with your I-94 as long as you have a certain amount of time remaining on it, but it will expire on the same day as I-94. Because you have to pay each time you get a new one, it's probably better to just wait until you have your EAD.

My fiancé arrived in the US very early yesterday morning. My parents picked him up and I drove down in the afternoon right after the end of my summer classes. I was so happy to see him and to have him here! I can't believe we are finally together in the US.

This morning we applied for his social security number and got our marriage license. We will be legally married on Monday and have our family ceremony reception next Saturday in a different state. Can't wait!

It's no problem for the US citizen to be receiving aid - to be honest there is no place on any financial form that asks if any US citizen is receiving federal or state aid, so it's not even going to come up.

What they are concerned about is that the immigrant be supported and not become a public charge. Normally, you can have a joint sponsor to meet those support requirements for either K-1 or CR-1. However, I understand the embassy in Manila does not accept joint sponsors for K-1 (though it also seems they don't ask for financial info?). I'm no expert on the Philippines so I'll let someone else elaborate on that, and figure out whether the K-1 is an option for you or not.

I would recommend double-checking with the field office in Thailand as to what documents they will accept to prove "residency" in Thailand.

I have no personal experience with the Thailand field office, but I know for example that you are able to file DCF in Peru if you are a de facto resident there, even if you've been staying just on a tourist visa (and exiting and re-entering every 3-6 months as needed) and working illegally, without legal/official Peruvian residency.

I found this link: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-offices/thailand-uscis-bangkok-field-office which is a bit ambiguous (for example, they mention passport stamps and visa in the required docs, is the O visa with continuous stay in Thailand enough? it's not 100% clear). I would personally call and ask, just in case, about your specific situation and whether you could be considered a resident, as filing DCF is so incredibly quicker than filing with the Chicago Lockbox.

That's great! I'm so glad it went well and your cat was calm during the flight. My cat didn't pee or poop or eat or drink either - I think that's pretty typical for cats traveling.

Welcome to the US!

I flew with my cat from Peru to the US (1 hour flight + 8 hour flight but almost 20 hours in the carrier for my cat with driving time, layover time etc).

I was also worried about the carrier dimensions as the airline for my first, short, domestic flight listed a very small container size, and kept telling me that they would check. I ended up using a larger soft-sided carrier, they didn't check, and the carrier easily fit under the seat. I did bring a smaller carrier that fit their dimensions in case they argued, but I would have had to basically stuff the cat in there, so I'm really glad I didn't have to use that one.

However, my cat was absolutely panicked while on the planes, completely frantic, and tried to escape from his carrier the entire time we were in the air (he was obviously unhappy but relatively calm while we were on the ground, just meowing but otherwise not making too much of a fuss). He tore holes in the (high-quality) soft-sided carrier during the first flight, and figured out how to open the carrier by biting through the zipper, and did so about every 15 minutes during the long flight, so that I had to fight with him to stuff him back in about every 15 minutes. It was hell - and I was very glad I had a tranquilizer which I gave him throughout the flight. It obviously didn't ease his nerves, but at least it meant he couldn't run out of the carrier when he escaped, because, although he was combative, he couldn't really walk.

I've flown with cats before and it's been fine. I had no idea he would react this way - he'd never been in a carrier for a particularly long time, just to go to the vet and back (1-2 hours), but he had always seemed annoyed but fine in those situations. It was one of the most stressful and distressing experiences of my life. I was worried he would escape on the plane and I would never find him again, or that I would overdose him on the drugs and he would die. I'm not sharing this to scare you, just to give you some advance warning that you may be in for a rough ride and to share that personally, I was glad to have the tranquilizer on hand. I would also never fly with this cat again without him being in a hard-sided carrier, and probably wouldn't do so for any cat just because I've seen how easily a motivated cat can tear through a soft-carrier.

(We recently drove six hours with cat in a hard-sided container and while he meowed quite a bit, he didn't show any of the frantic, panicked, trying to escape behavior that he partook in on the planes. I think the noise on the plane is what got him - planes are super loud because of the engine sounds).

I did have to take him out of his carrier to get through airport security. I had trimmed his nails in advance so he couldn't scratch me and was prepared to hold on for him for dear life no matter what, but he was obviously terrified and just clung to me.

In the US (Newark airport), I had to go through the "something to declare" customs line, but they just looked at him and then waived us through. They didn't check any paperwork.

My cat took a long nap when we finally got home, and then was back to his normal self.

I really hope it all goes well for you and your cat has a good flight!