Blue Raven

But I am assuming from this discussion that it can take longer if it is the petitioner's letter which is missing.(?) I hope they treat it as just a missing piece and not as something that starts the wait time all over again.

Interesting. Did you forget the one from only the petitioner or were you also missing the one from the beneficiary?

We forgot the one from the beneficiary. It didn't add a long time to our process. They sent it to the next step within days of receiving this missing statement from us.

Nich-Nick, I still got an RFE for this exact reason even though we signed the form. They'll likely still get the RFE.

Thank you very much Arlinda!

I will re-post in the AUS specific thread / forum.

Your case from I129 to interview went really quickly!

You are Welcome, Matt1515. (I am Blue Raven now.)

I politely kept in touch with them: emailing them when I needed clarification or status updates, the instant the allotted time passed at each stage, for example. I even respectfully suggested the interview date and they honored my request!

Had we not forgotten a statement in the beginning (necessitating an RFE), perhaps the process could have been even faster.

I hope yours goes even faster than ours! Good luck on your journey!

I do know someone who personally had only 93 days between her Initial I-129F Mailing to her partner's interview last year (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). She was quite diligent with her follow-up at every step along the way & she proactively had paperwork prepared in advance to reduce delays between steps, etc. However, she did not have it specifically expedited.

Good Luck

Thank you! That clarifies everything.

Dear Team,

My fiance has a social security card that says "Valid for work only with DHS authorization".

My understanding is that that once we get married, we apply for his authorization to work. He will be able to work in a couple months, but it will take several months to get his 2 year green card.

Since he already has a social security number, I was wondering if the Social Security Government office will issue him a new Social Security card before the Green Card has been issued? (I.e. While he is on the temporary authorization to work, will they issue him a new social security card without those words?)

My concern is that when he applies for jobs, they may ask for a copy of his Social Security card. With those words on it, they may assume he is not eligible to be hired, when in fact he is.

Thank you.

You are obviously clueless, Student visa's are usually D/S.

Okay. This is no longer productive. You will get no more replies from me. Have a great day.

Which is horribly wrong.

Most people in the country illegally overstay their student visa or other visas and therefore are often here for longer than a year. I specifically said that I did not personally know if length mattered.

http://www.nydailyne...ticle-1.2164223

If you actually look at the guidelines, you will see that my statement was accurate.

I assumed that people in this forum would prefer facts and our personal experiences, even if they are things that they wouldn't want to hear. Also, the fact that he has been denied for years, supports the statement that they are keeping him out for an extended period of time. How long? I do not know.

I saw a dozen or so references to 10 year bans on actual official sites and news articles.

Again, Best Regards,

You don't know if the length of overstay is a factor. You're not sure if coming from a VWP country has any effect. THEN WHY ARE YOU TELLING PEOPLE THAT THOSE WHO OVERSTAY TYPICALLY HAVE A 10 YEAR BAN? Do some research before you post and scare people for no good reason.

Dear Aaron,

Most of the people I know who overstayed even by a small amount got a 10 year ban. This is also printed in the immigration guidelines. What I was stating is that I do not know what exceptions exist. I stand by that statement.

Best Regards.

People who overstay their visas typically have a 10 year ban on entering the country legally again.

I am not sure what exception or appeal processes exist. I also do not know if the length of the overstay is a factor. I also am not sure if coming from a visa-waiver country has any effect on the ability to visit after the overstay has been documented.

Update: Today the CEAC website says: "ISSUED".

The K1 Visa will not help her enter Mexico. It is not a green card yet.

She would need to get a visa for Mexico under the guidelines they have for Ukrainian citizens.

Thanks teeak for the good news!

How about the income requirement, when do I (the USC) need that?

One of the added wrinkles in our story is that I am currently unemployed, having quit my job to move Mexico to be with my fiancé. Looking at the guide and flowchart it would appear that I should find a job by the time the I-134 Affidavit of Support is submitted (some time between the NOA2 point and the interview) Am I right in this assessment?

I have modest cash and 401K savings, parents with means and willingness to co-sponsor, and good job prospects as a mechanical engineer but it seems that I should hedge my bets and be able to report a current income on the I-134. Is this a good assumption? Getting a job likely will involve moving back to the US (separating my fiancé and I) so we may want to avoid that if we can.

You can get a co-sponsor, but it is a little bit more difficult to get the approval that way. Your best bet is to get a job making at least 150% of the poverty guideline for your resident state and the number of dependents you have.

In general, if you use assets only, these assets must be something you can sell/access quite easily in order to be able to provide for your entire family for a year. But relying on this to get the approval will allow subjectivity in the decision. Wages, on the other hand, are a concrete metric which is not vulnerable to subjectivity.

She does not need a police clearance from the US.

However if for some reason she was detained by the police (even if the charges were dropped or not filed), take the time to get a copy of that arrest record for your own files. You don't need to offer it proactively, but have it in case they ask for it. Depending upon the person in charge of your case, they might ask for this. In this circumstance, they can't see what your were accused of, so the very picky ones will put the burden on you to provide the details.

What's interesting about that?

I just wonder if they are actually high fraud areas or if the scrutiny has something to do with monitoring or affecting US demographics.

I must be misreading that because I see them calling out

Dear BigJailerman,

That is correct. The article lists the top ones. However, the graphic shows many more "red nations" implying, at least, that they are the ones who are more scrutiny.

http://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/

The site above implies that almost all nations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia are scrutinized more heavily as "high fraud" nations.

The site further implies that nations in Western Europe, Canada, and Australia are not scrutinized as heavily because they are "low fraud" nations.

Interesting...

You will need to have an appointment letter from the embassy or you will be rejected by the medical clinic.

Update: We forward the entire police and court record last week as I mentioned in this post. We received this response:

"Post is requesting the Arrest and Court Record for your arrest in the United States. The previous ones sent were insufficient.

Please forward same to this office as soon as possible, in order that we may proceed with your visa application.

We will hold your passport for a few more days , until we receive these documents. You may scan and send them via this email address."

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/113-waivers-i-601-and-i-212-and-administrative-processes-221g/

You may want to read up in the AP forum. Seems to be a trend of more extensive background check and longer AP

Thank you LionessDeon for this reference.

You can write a letter and explain what happened.

He wrote a letter explaining what happened. This was not enough for the embassy, but the police produced the initial call report, so we should be fine.

The open records request just came back and they did find the initial call report. So we do have something to send over. Everything was as my fiance described point for point. The only official charge was "Resisting Arrest" which was dismissed based on the video. The call report said he asked something like "what did I do wrong?". They never said that they answered him. The evidence log had 3 DVDs of the surveillance which were officially destroyed once the charges were dismissed. Amazing how that works....

So I am sure this will work out. I will let you all know if we have any hiccups.

The DS-160 asks if you have been arrested. In hindsight, he should have said yes. But he didn't think to because when they saw the surveillance they knew he had done nothing and dismissed everything.

I am sure this will workout soon. I am ready to begin our lives here.

A

Thank you Baron,

I'll try to calm down. They said 5 business days. It's been longer than this and it is making me quite nervous. Especially considering that while I was there, one of the agents (handling shorter term visas) was denying everyone under 60.

But if they do this to everyone, everywhere, I'll just be a bit more patient.

Thanks,

Arlinda