CKS

Hi All,

Does anyone know what the rules are with bringing money from overseas. My wife recently received her green card but has quite a bit of money overseas which she never brought with her when she came on her K1 visa. . I am aware of the $10k limit if we bring it by hand but I was thinking more of doing a wire transfer of the entire amount. Also will we need to declare her money overseas at tax time and take a tax hit. I am thinking that since this money was already hers before she came over that there is no tax hit but I could be wrong. Any info on this topic is much appreciated. Thanks.

The $10K limit is on your person - in cash - no declaration, when arriving at the POE.

Just wire in the money... there will be no taxes...

Thanks for the quick reply. Do you know if this is a one time occurrence or can she send the money here at different amounts and intervals?

Hi All,

Does anyone know what the rules are with bringing money from overseas. My wife recently received her green card but has quite a bit of money overseas which she never brought with her when she came on her K1 visa. . I am aware of the $10k limit if we bring it by hand but I was thinking more of doing a wire transfer of the entire amount. Also will we need to declare her money overseas at tax time and take a tax hit. I am thinking that since this money was already hers before she came over that there is no tax hit but I could be wrong. Any info on this topic is much appreciated. Thanks.

In our case, it was approved pending FBI background check. What did the adjudicating officer say to you?

We waited just over 12 months before my wife's green card arrived in the mail. While most take only a few months others take longer for whatever reason. All I can tell you is be patient and it will get to you. Btw, ours was at the Portland office.

You may want to consider filing a writ of mandamus to facilitate your case. I have read of several people who have done so and had their application approved alomost immediately

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=216772

The new ruling to expedite the processing of backlogged name check cases was due to these lawsuits that applicants were filing to expedite their pending name checks. To alleviate this, USCIS now approved your application conditionally pending the name check. The link above tells how you how to go about filing the writ or you can get an attorney to do it for you.

I just wondering is any reason they pick ppls for name check?

They don't pick people, everyone goes through the FBI namecheck. Just some get stuck longer than others.

While it is true that all apllications are subject to background checks, I believe your ethnicity, nationality etc all play a big part in whether your application is delayed or not. I have a friend from Singapore who got his green card after coming here on vwp, overstayed for 3 years and married a usc and got his green card in 3 months. A colleague from work had his girlfriend come from Poland on a visitors visa got married and got their green card in 2 months. Both my sis in law and brother in law gc applications took over 1 year along with my wife's. Also seeing some of the other cases that are on this board and others I can't help but notice that there is a strong correlation with delays and where your beneficiary is coming from etc. I guess all the delays can be attributed to 9/11 and it's subsequent changes to policies.

Well it finally arrived. It has been almost 9 months of waiting since approval at the Portland office. All in all it took just over a year for us. I applied last April 5th and received the email this morning. I had called the 800 number to ask them to look into my wife's case about 3 weeks ago. Don't know if it had anything to do with it. Anyways good luck to everyone else out there especially those who have been waiting longer than us. Our prayers go out to you all who are still waiting. Good luck.

What's happening march 10th? For me march 10th will be two months since the 2nd biometrics. We have been considering writing to our congressman and senator if we don't here anything by March 10th.

According to the Revised National Security Adjudicating and Reporting Requirements USCIS is working on adjudicating over 45,000 pending name check cases. According to the memo, they hope to have them done by mid March 2008. Here's a snippet from it :

Q11. Should customers contact USCIS through the 1-800 customer service number or make an INFOPASS appointment to visit their local office if their case is outside of normal processing times and they believe their application meets the criteria of this new policy?

A11. For pending applications outside of normal processing times, we recommend that customers wait until March 10, 2008, before inquiring about cases affected by this policy modification. This will allow each office sufficient time to identify and adjudicate the relevant pending cases. If no action is taken by mid-March, we recommend inquiring with the USCIS customer service line at 1-800-375-5283 . This procedure is for customers who have been previously informed that their case is pending due to the FBI name check. (Cases that are still pending within the processing times will be completed when the related adjudication actions are completed.)

Here's the link to the whole document :

http://www.murthaimmigration.com/2008/new-...485-applicants/

So if your case has been approved, is pending background check and it has been over 180 days since your approval you have a legitimate reason to make an infopass to inquire about the status of your case or bring attention to it by involving your senator.

"Where the application is otherwise approvable and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days, the adjudicator shall approve the I-485, I-601, I-687, or I-698 and proceed with card issuance"

Congrats to all those who have been approved. It's about damn time. We are still waiting for a touch on our case. We called USCIS last week and were told to wait till March 10th before making an enquiry into our case. I will be going into my local office next thursday with a copy of the memo in hand to see if we can get an I-551 stamp. The wife's EAD is expiring so I gottta see if I can get that done. I will let you guys know what happens. Not looking forward to it though. Bleh.

From reading the memo, it seems that if you are still pending name check you could now go into your local office and get a I-551 temporary green card stamp. What do you guys think ?

This is the quote I was thinking of:

"Where the application is otherwise approvable and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days, the adjudicator shall approve the I-485 and proceed with card issuance."

I ask since who knows how long it will take to clear their present backlog of pending name check cases and if you need to travel then it will eliminate the need to apply for advanced parole.

It's been over 5 months since we went for our interview. The last update was August 8th, 2007 on the infamous USCIS site. Today, both receipt numbers for the I-485 and I-765 received touches. Don't know what it means and why they both would show touches since the EAD was already approved a while back but I sure hope it is something good. I was already in the process of filing for the I-131 and after seeing this last update, I don't know if I should wait since it is going to cost $305 to get the travel document. Wish this nightmare would come to an end. Sigh.

CKS, if your application is held up long enough, you won't have to apply to remove conditions. This is yet another silly side effect of the hold-ups. Our application has been pending for two years now. Our second anniversary was last month, so when my husband's green card is finally issued, it should be a 10-year card. It gets tricky--and I think this is what you're concerned about--if the application is held up for a while but not quite two years. For example, let's say that my husband's green card was finally issued November 30, 2007. Because we we were a few days shy of two years, he'd have to apply to remove conditions 21 months later, at which point we'd have been married for nearly four years. In the namecheck thread, a few of us posted when we'd passed the two-year anniversary mark (for marriage, that is), celebrating that at least we'd be able to skip the removal of conditions step.

I'd say a major drag--aside from the obvious pisser of the general anxiety and having to fork over hundreds of dollars to renew interim benefits--is that the time spent in name check delay doesn't count toward the residency required for citizenship. If my husband had received his green card shortly after the interview, we'd be thinking about applying for naturalization next year. As it is, it will be at least three years from when he finally receives the card, which hasn't happened yet. Now, that sucks.

My husband's third EAD is currently in process.

Babblesgirl, the regular EAD isn't as complicated as the temporary EAD. Regular EADs are good for a year. You just have to be careful to reapply 90 days before the previous one expires to ensure that there isn't a gap in employment authorization. I don't think there's a sure way to avoid a gap w/ the temp EAD.

Thanks for the reply. That clear's up a lot of things for us. In a nutshell I may not need to file for lifting of conditions if the green card comes after the 2 year anniversary but the shitty side is that the time spent waiting for the green card is not going to count towards applying to become a citizen.

I too am waiting for my wife's green card. We filed back in March of '07. I made an infopass appointment on December 28th and true enough on the INS computer screen it said pending FBI background check. The lady was nice enough to show it to us. She said that we are just going to have to wait it out. Sigh. She also said be prepared to apply for advance parole if travelling abroad and renewing the ead if it is expiring.

Here's a question. Does anybody what is the date you are accorded conditional residence status ? Is it the date it was filed or the date it was approved. I asked since applying for the I-751 lifting of conditions stipulates this "you must file it during the 90 days immediately before the second anniversary of the date you were accorded conditional resident status. This is the date your conditional residence expires". If it is the latter, then it is really going to suck

Our Immigration officer told us that we passed our interview and that our I-485 petition was approved pending the FBI background check. That was back on August 1st and we are still waiting for my wife's green card. This is how I feel about the whole process

You might want to look into using a cellullar service like Airtel or Hutch with a GPRS connection. My fiance used her cell with Airtel and yahoo chats with cam was not a problem. The connection was remarkably decent. It was not much more than dial-up too.

My Wife is Scheduled for CR1 Interview on Feb2nd 2007 , just being nervous and crossing my fingers ..I wish everyone best of luck for there interview , she would be joining me in Dallas. she has interviewed schedule in new delhi. we are based in bombay but she has her family in new delhi.

My fiance's interview in Delhi went pretty smooth. She was asked pretty straight forward questions like where and when we met, my job occupation, family members, when was I in india etc. She said her interviewer was pretty nice to her and was not out to try and ruin the the process. If everything is in order, you should have the passport with the visa returned in about a week. I fly tomorrow morning to Singapore to see her after 8 months of waiting. Good luck.

You might want to look into using a cellullar service like Airtel or Hutch with a GPRS connection. My fiance used her cell with Airtel and yahoo chats with cam was not a problem. The connection was remarkably decent. It was not much more than dial-up too.

Good luck to all. I am meeting my fiance in Singapore on Friday. Let me know if you have any questions about the final process.

Thanks.

Hi,

My fiance's visa was approved and she received it yesterday. It came in a sealed envelope which I heard should not be opened. Is this true ? What if we wanted to make a stopover in another country before proceeding on to the US. How is that going to work if the passport needs to be stamped in the transit country ? Can someone please explain if it is possible to open the sealed envelope so that she can use her passport. Thanks.

I filled out both DS156 forms for my fiance and mailed it to her. They ended up using only the DS156 without the bar code. Her interview was last week and everything went fine. I left that field blank that asked if somebody else had filled the form up for her. They are not going to know who filled the forms out. As for question 36, it only applies if your fiance has received a visa applied for her by someone else. Hope this helps.

Download packet 4 from the embassy website and call VFS. If you have an interview date it will show in VFS's system. GOOD LUCK !

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/vfsoffice06.html

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/packet4chlst.html

Thanks for the reply. I will have her do that. What about her medical examination. What is she going to need from packet 4 to go for her medical exam. Thanks.

I called the State Department (1-202-663-1225) to enquire about my wife's interview date at the Delhi embassy and was told that her interview is scheduled for January 18th. That is about 30 days away and she still has not received her packet 4. I had emailed the embassy about 10 days ago and they said they have no information about her interview date. Is this normal ? Should she just wait for her interview letter or should she make a trip to the emabassy in Delhi and enquire what is going on. According to the Delhi embassy, she must submit all her papers no sooner than 15 days and not later than 10 days before the interview date. Thanks.

Hi Sam, thanks for the reply. My fiance submitted her packet 3 checklist on November 28th by regular post mail as that is what her instructions said to do. She is still waiting for her packet 4. I made an email inquiry to the emabssy and the reply I got is that her interview will be scheduled in the forthcoming months. I don't know if that is the usual canned response or what. I have told her that ifs she does not get her packet 4 by Christmas to make a trip to the embassy to enquire about her case. Good luck with your DCF.

For those of you who are going through or have gone through Delhi, can you please state the time interval between packet 3 and packet 4. My fiance mailed in her packet 3 about 2 weeks ago and I am wondering how long before she gets her packet 4 and how soon after will be her interview date. I sent an email to the Delhi embassy and their reply was that it will be scheduled in the forthcoming months. Those were not very encouraging words Thanks.

Thank you for the reply. I still have not heard from them and I was simply going to go with the assumption that only one police verification letter is required along with the letter from the passport office. Thanks for taking the time to provide this information to me and and everyone else going through the Delhi embassy. It is much appreciated.