kumakun

Our NOA1 was dated December 7 2016 and my husband's biometrics appointment was January 6 2017. We got the biometrics appointment notice about 10 days before the appointment. I'd suspect you'll receive notification this week or next based on our experience but things can change/vary. We filed AOS and did biometrics before the current administration took office.

Aloha kākou! Wondering if any VJers have recently experienced heightened problems re-entering the United States using Advance Parole? We are hoping to receive EAD and AP for my husband this month and have a trip to Japan to visit his family planned in late May. In light of, uh, recent political events, my husband is worried about being hassled or denied entry when we return to the US in early June. There's a chance he'll have his 2-year GC by then (Honolulu office seems to process faster than most field offices) and while he'd feel much better re-entering with a GC, we know neither doc guarantees re-entry. He has no criminal history nor has he ever experienced problems coming to the US, but we all know it's a different world now. Just wondering if anyone has been denied re-entry with AP or 2-year GC recently. We'd also love to hear recent positive re-entry stories too.  Mahalo!

We're running into this now as well. DL office in Waimea (Hawaii Island) allowed my husband to get his learner's permit with the I-797C (and A LOT of other docs) but said they would be contacting USCIS to determine status of legal presence (yeah good luck with that). He will take his driving test on Feb 6 2017 but they may not give him a DL until he gets a more concrete doc such as EAD or I-797. Hopefully he will receive EAD by end of February; his international driving permit expired in mid-January and the fact he can't drive without me is causing some strain! Ugh this limbo period of being allowed to stay in the U.S. but not having solid documentation of legal presence sucks! One of the things we didn't consider when deciding between K-1 and CR-1. :/

Glad to join NOV filers group, together, we are stronger! My AOS package was delivered on 23rd Nov and still waiting for email/Text notices, I was so worried about it but after reading your experiences, I feel better now, maybe being patient is a good way to get relief. Good luck to all of us!

Aloha! Just found this thread this morning as I'm getting concerned about not hearing anything back from USCIS yet. Our AOS materials were also received in Chicago on 11/23 (day before Thanksgiving)...glad to see most folks filing in November are experiencing 2-3 week wait times for checks to be cashed and NOA. We'll be patient for now!

AOS only requires at least one in a series of Tdap/TD, MMR, varicella(or history of chickenpox), and flu shot(only during flu season). See the pinned topic > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/551080-immunizations-ds-3025-or-i-693/

Mahalo (thank you)!

Aloha,

When my fiance had his medical exam he didn't have access to any of his old vaccination records, so the following shots were administered at the time of his exam:

DT, DTP, DTaP (one combined shot)

Measles, Mumps, Rubella (separate shots)

The following vaccines were noted as "Not age appropriate" and not administered:

OPV, IPV

Rotateq

Rotarix

Hib

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

PCV 7

PCV 10

PCV 13

PPSV 23

Influenza

On his vaccination worksheet it is noted "US vaccination requirements COMPLETE (Requesting a Blanket Waiver)". BUT, two things:

I have read that other vaccines are required for immigrant visas;

There is currently a Hepatitis A outbreak in Hawai‘i, where we will be living.

He's going to get the Hep A vaccine just as a precaution...should he get any others to be sure hell be set when we file AOS?

Any guidance/insights appreciated!

Aloha,

My fiance will be arriving in the U.S. on a K-1 visa on September 23. His ESTA expires on October 2. While we understand his ESTA won't be an issue or even relevant when comes on September 23—the K-1 is what he's relying on to enter the U.S.—is there any good reason for him to renew it before he leaves Japan? He doesn't plan on leaving the U.S. before receiving AP, and we assume AP is what he would use to re-enter the U.S. rather than ESTA. We just want to make sure we're not missing something. Is there any harm in him renewing ESTA anyway? Or is it just a waste of time/money at this point? We appreciate any advice!

You can also download the transcripts from the IRS website, if you need them sooner than being mailed. As someone else has said, the IRS sent me mine within 5 days or less of ordering them online.

Downloading from IRS website takes just 10-15 minutes! You just have to go through a brief identity verification process via email or text message.

Great guidance, thanks! We'd probably rather file separately for 2016 and then jointly for 2017 and beyond, but we'll try it both ways for 2016 and see how significant the difference is before filing. Our biggest concern is ensuring he's not double-taxed, considering how, uh, greedy the IRS can be...

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this has been addressed somewhere in this forum. I can't imagine it hasn't but I've not been able to find solid answers here.

My fiance will be arriving from Japan on a K-1 visa either at the end of August or end of September 2016 (we'll determine exact date once he has his visa in hand in the next couple of weeks). Based on the IRS' "183-day test" (and formula), he will have been present in the U.S. for ~168 days or less in 2014, 2015, and 2016. He will be resigning from his job in Tokyo in a couple of weeks and will terminate employment a few weeks before he moves here, so all income earned in 2016 will have been earned in Japan while he was living in Japan.

Since we won't be getting married until October/November, we don't anticipate he will have his green card or work authorization by the end of 2016, so we don't anticipate he will earn any income in the U.S. this year.

So...will he need to file a U.S. federal tax return for 2016? And will any of his earnings in Japan prior to his move here be taxable in the U.S.?

And on the off-chance he does receive his green card before December 31 (highly unlikely), would that change these circumstances at all?

We appreciate any guidance or online resources anyone can point us to!

We haven't gotten the ticket yet, we're going to wait until he has his interview we just wanted him here for the holiday.

Understood! Yes this process is nerve-wracking! For us the wait for NOA2 was the most difficult part because you really have no way of tracking your case's progress. Also don't get too fixated on VJ estimates: VJ projected we would have NOA2 by ~April 19, which was two weeks off. We got very anxious after April 19 passed but there was nothing we could do but wait. Just around the time we cooled down and decided not to obsess and worry about it, NOA2 came through.

Doesn't each Service Center process these I129F's at different speeds?

CSC and TSC are processing at almost identical speed at present.

We submitted our I-129F in mid-February and got NOA2 at beginning of May. That said, processing has slowed down somewhat and people who have filed since February are seeing longer processing times. The "five months" is just a standard answer that USCIS gives (they're not "five months behind," they simply don't/can't guarantee they will process I-129Fs faster than five months), even though petitions are processing in about 3-4 months currently.

That said, if you filed in May, the chance of your fiance having a K-1 visa by November is possible, albeit cutting it close. If you get an RFE then you should definitely consider adjusting your timeline.

My fiance has his interview at the Tokyo embassy on July 5 (less than two weeks from now) and even though we've come this far we still have not set a firm wedding date or travel plans for him because we want to make sure he has the K-1 visa in hand first, just in case.

Get your transcript from irs. Here's the link. Turbo tax might not be sufficient in this case.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

And you can get your transcripts INSTANTLY online (well, it takes about 10 minutes, which includes identity verification) at the URL noted above. I would do that to be on the safe side because the IRS transcripts are 100% acceptable, whereas copies of full tax returns + W-2s can be sketchy (I learned). I thought transcripts would require waiting for docs via U.S. Mail but you can download them from the IRS site in a matter of minutes.

I just FedEx'ed my fiance my I-134 and supporting docs and included copies of my tax returns (also done through TurboTax) for the past two years, then learned that they may not be acceptable proof of filed and processed returns. I panicked a little before learning that I could get the transcripts online immediately. Got the transcripts and emailed them to my fiance to print out and replace the long, unsigned copies of my 1040s before his interview.

TL;DR: Download the necessary # of transcripts from https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript and submit those.

You are in the fiancee boat, so it's a bit different than what we went through, but here is what I wrote before I realized that! :

Since my husband just finished his interview on Monday, I can give you some hints!

(BTW we got it!!!)

1st for the 1-134 make sure your documents are the current ones, I sent in an old form that I downloaded months in advance, set us back 45+ days!

2nd Transcripts, do you mean the tax ones? If you have a copy of your actual taxes (1040) you can just photo copy that and your W2s and send those instead. If you send transcripts, your partner will have to bring a copy of your current taxes & W2 to the interview. So, transcripts are NOT better than actual copies of your taxes.

3rd Interview questions were basic: Where did you meet, when, how long, have you met each others' family? Etc...

He was thrown a random question, since it was just a week after our 1yr. anni. the interviewer asked "What did you do for your anniversary?"

Honestly we cleaned the house and are just getting ready to move, but we ate cake so he told the guy, "We ate cake". >.< It was apparently a "Great! That's so nice." answer.

You can call in advance and request a translator, we did, I think it got us reality points for me being a naggy wife, though it didn't matter. The guy who did the interview just switched to Japanese when my husband was like "Uh, sorry, isn't someone going to translate?"

And that was it.

We practiced with me asking Wh questions that I thought they might ask (and 95% of them were spot on). So, don't stress over the interview!

Good luck with everything and I hope you guys have smooth sailing!

So do you send in the completed I-134 before the interview? I was under the impression that the foreign fiance takes it with them to the interview.

Also the most current version of the I-134 form on the USCIS site is dated 2/19/2014 and expired on 2/29/2016, but the site also states that "A new edition of this form is coming soon. In the meantime, customers may file using the 02/19/14 edition. We will also accept previous editions." (https://www.uscis.gov/i-134) What edition did you use and how did it "set you back" 45+ days? We would like to avoid setbacks!!!

I wholeheartedly agree. It's shameful that the USA can be represented as such a rude and hostile country at POE (although our society is doing a better and better job of that on its own nowadays, but I digress). Doesn't make for a great first impression. I suspect agents are trained to be somewhat aggressive if they sense a reason to be suspicious in an effort to break an entrant down and get them to confess to any wrongdoing or impropriety, but it's obvious that some are just on a power trip. I've had experiences with both hostile and jovial agents when returning to the USA. It's all in the luck of the draw, I guess.

Bottom line is, if you're honest, friendly, cooperative, arriving legally, armed with proper documentation, not carrying/packing anything questionable, and complete any and all forms accurately, there's really no reason an agent would deny entry.

Having said that, I know there's been some debate in this forum as to whether an entrant should come right out and state that they are visiting their fiance(e). Based on our recent experience, doing so probably would have been the wiser approach. Even though he was prepared to be honest if asked if he was visiting anyone, the fact he originally stated that he was here "on vacation" ended up almost biting him in the a$$. Since my fiance had more than enough evidence to show he was returning to Japan and that we were very invested in the K-1 process (i.e., "doing things properly"), I suspect things would have gone more smoothly if he'd come right out and stated that he was visiting me. I think the fact he'd (legally under VWP) visited the U.S. 3-4 times a year the last two years is what initially raised the agent's suspicions.

Just a tip that I've not seen acknowledged in this thread: It is VERY important that the foreign fiance entering the US to visit complete the immigration and custom declaration forms that are passed out and filled out in-flight honestly and carefully! My fiance was armed to the teeth with proof of ties to his home country, copies of our I-129F/NOA1/NOA2, return itinerary, etc. and despite being honest about visiting his fiance the agent wasn't interested in any of those documents...she was interested if he had completed his customs declaration form honestly and completely. She was pretty rude and brutal but ultimately let my fiance enter even after accusing him twice of being a liar! As our lawyer told us, approval or denial of entry is completely at the discretion of the customs agent...so not only should you answer all questions honestly and have an arsenal of proof at the ready, but fill out your in-flight forms honestly and completely, be honest and transparent about what you're bringing, and don't pack/carry anything you're not supposed to!

Great news!

I'm now waiting for my petition to reach NVC, and was wondering if the USCIS case status will update to indicate the petition was forwarded to the DOS or will it forever stay as "case approved"?? What does your tracking say?

My understanding is that once the case leaves USCIS that the petition status is no longer updated on USCIS's end. Our case status on USCIS still says "Case Approved" and that they will mail me NOA2. Only way to verify status with NVC seems to be to call. It's recommended to call 2-3 weeks after receiving NOA2, but if NVC doesn't have your case yet they'll tell you it could take 4-6 weeks (standard answer, apparently). I got text/email notification of NOA2 on May 4 and according to what rep at NVC told me this morning our case was forwarded to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on May 19...so 15 days total for us.

Holy smokes! Called NVC for the first time today at 12:30 p.m. EDT to check status of our case. Got a very nice rep within 5 minutes who told me our case was forwarded to the Embassy in Tokyo yesterday! Case # received! That moved much faster than expected!

Still bumming very hard for those who are still waiting on NOA2...we continue to send positive vibes to all of you waiting for good news...

My fiance just arrived in Honolulu this morning and got through...but encountered some hassle! Fortunately he was prepared with copies of his round-trip itinerary, letter from his employer, copies of our NOA1 and NOA2, and a complete copy of our I-129F petition. (Also a copy of an email exchange between me and our lawyer discussing next steps after NOA2.) We followed advice on this site to "Answer each question directly and honestly; provide answers only to the questions which are asked; do not offer additional information unless requested to do so by the officer; answer yes/no questions with only a "yes" or a "no". Do not provide additional information unless asked." Customs at Honolulu is automated now but entrants still need to talk to an officer. He was asked the purpose of his visit and he said "vacation." Then he was asked if he was visiting anyone and he said (as we had prepared) "yes, my fiance." The officer yelled at him and called him a liar! "You should have said the purpose of your visit was to visit your fiance. You're not on vacation!", she said. (Um, yes he is, he's on vacation AND visiting me!). But he had all of the documents he needed to establish that he did not intend to stay beyond May 23, and got through a barrage of questions. As others have said on here, if you're prepared with evidence and are honest, then it all comes down to the officer...unfortunately he got a hostile one! Welcome (back) to America! But thank goodness he got through...can't wait to see him this afternoon!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Just got NOA2 notification via text!!!! よかった!!! Just when I stopped thinking and obsessing about it. So happy!!!!

Feb approvals have ground to a halt.

Yes, they have.

I spoke too soon this morning, apparently we were approved yesterday but there was no text or update. I refreshed the page this morning and nothing but just now it's approved!!!!!!!!!! YES!!

Ho‘omaika‘i!! Now where's mine?!?!?! lol

Hmmmmm...seems like no NOA2's issued last Friday or today...?