lcfreshful

2 hours ago, ra0010 said:

Rule of thumb: always, ALWAYS keep a copy of what you send. I still keep my initial AOS packages and notices and will do so until I become a citizen. You never know.

You're right. Can't be too careful with this stuff. Especially with how they like to build hurdles every chance they get.

2 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

To know if they actually lost some documents, read your RFE. It should include a detailed list of the things they already have.

 

And for each thing they advice you to send that you don't have, give an explanation on the letter you'll include in your package.

 

I read it. Seems like they lost the emergency contact sheet that has her listed. I'll definitely will be sending that again.

1 hour ago, PWB said:

OMG my head hurts after reading this.  There has got to be a better way to conduct business.  We thought getting out of Manila and still being half sane with a little money left was acceptable. Wow this AOS is just as crazy as the 129-F stuff.  We finally got the blood work, x-rays and Cat scan back and our pulmonologist  confirming that my wife never had T.B. as claimed three times by St.Lukes. All that sputum testing, delays and money loss should not have happened. Best of luck to you folks, our only choice is to hang in there.

I swear they just make it difficult for people just because they can. 

Best of luck to you, friend.

4 hours ago, ra0010 said:

Alternatively, you could make it more official by going to the bank and adding her as an authorized user. My husband and I have a joint account, but we are also authorized users in our individual accounts. 
 

So, to summarize, here’s a list of what you could send:

- a copy of the lease, with the letter explaining the lease situation.

- joint utility bills.

- joint bank account statements.

- if bills are on different names, you could still send them because they show proof of shared residence.

- Joint memberships, if you have any (Sams Club, PF, etc)

- If you have ever listed her as an emergency contact, be my guest and include that too.

- Joint Health insurance, IRAs.

- hopefully she’ll pass the driving test. If so, she’s going to get a temporary permit. You can add her to the insurance with that, it’s very simple and quick and she should be listed in the insurance right after you call them.

Good luck!

Thanks. 

We're going to explain the lease as we send the consecutive year renewals.

The only actual utility bill we pay is electric (blessed), and I had her added. We have to wait until the next billing cycle before it comes in the mail though. 

Suki mentioned that I should resend the joint account, but also show the acc info of how we both are transferring money into said account, and explain to them how we work our money together/and have access to each other's account.

Tbh, I could've sworn I sent then information about her being my emergency contact as well as info of her being on my health insurance. Another user mentioned that they sometimes lose things, so I'll resend it again.

We don't have joint memberships, sadly.

She already has her driving permit which is acceptable according to what the Rfe said, long as it matches the address on my License as well.

Lastly, we have info of our renters insurance as well as life insurance policies coming in the mail. 

With all this stuff, I hope even the scrutiny of the most thorough officer in the building can be pacified.

5 hours ago, jan22 said:

You said you're just now getting some of the material you plan to send.  I am assuming that means it will be dated after 2019.  Since you mentioned the officer questioned why your evidence did not cover the entire period of your marriage, in addition to the new material, I would really focus on the 2017 to 2019 period, explaining the lease, the finances, etc., as others have said.  But I would also do my best to find something concrete that you could submit from that period.  

 

For example, during these years:

• Did she get a birthday card or letter in the mail that she kept (with the envelope showing your address)? 
• Did she take a class or anything that she had to register for that she might have a copy of that shows your address? 
• How about an Amazon account where she ordered something in her name that was shipped to your address? 
• Any family or friend that she sent a card or letter to that they might have saved (again, along with the envelope) that you could get from them in time to include in the RFE response?
• Any e-mail or chat room message she might have sent to somebody giving them her new address that she might still have in a "Sent" folder or access to a copy of? 
• Or one discussing her new apartment/house and what she was doing to settle into your shared space (redecorating, how your emptied clost space for her -- any little thing that shows you were together from the start).

 

By "your" address, I mean your shared address, of course.  

 

Good luck!  I'm sure it will all work out for you.

I thought of that too. I'll look around for anything from the 2017 - 2019 period of mail; however, there's not much. I was banking on the idea of gathering all of our lease agreements, (showing consistency of renewal) then writing a thorough explanation and reassuring that we've literally been living together the entire time. 

20 minutes ago, Sukie said:

You may have just given us a HUGE piece of the puzzle.  When you say your spouse "has access" to your accounts - do you mean internet access (like she knows your ID and password and can look?) or that she, indeed, is a signatory on the account - even though she doesn't use it?  If you each are signatories on each others' accounts, then they are joint accounts in the eyes of the bank - and in the eyes of USCIS.  If you are NOT signatories on each others' accounts, then a statement from you about how you each "have access"  (and, explain what kind of access) to each others' accounts would be helpful.

 

Still, it is not REQUIRED that you have joint accounts.  The explanation of how you do your money should be good enough.  You are almost there!

 

Sukie in NY

Ohhhh Okay. 

I mean, yes; my wife and I literally have each other's passwords and IDs to log in if we need to and/or we simply just show our accounts to each other when asked, or to help figure things out. 

I'll definitely include that explanation in the cover letter. 

Thank you so much for the insight! 

Just now, Sukie said:

Yes, you need to explain the whole thing about the lease and why you have done it that way.

 

Also, you need to explain HOW you do your money.  You each have individual accounts, I assume, and you both put money into a joint account for savings, but how do you pay your bills?  How do you pay your rent?  Does one of you pay the rent and the other pay the utilities?  The joint bank account statement you sent doesn't explain that.  So...spell it out for them - who pays for what and from where? 

 

Lots of couples do not co-mingle finances.  Your only omission was that you did not explain it clearly.  You'll be ok - just really spell it out in your response to the RFE.  If you need to - put in a few statements from your individual accounts showing where the money for rent/utilities/insurance comes from.

 

Best of luck.

 

Sukie in NY

I haven't really thought of it that way. Thanks for opening my eyes to such a revelation. I guess I was too frustrated to look at it from that perspective.

I usually pay everything, but I put her in charge of the money. We may have separate accounts, but she has full access to my account and vice versa; all we have to do is ask each other. Not like we don't trust one another, it just makes things easier. I'll try to explain that too.

11 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Send everything you already sent. Sometimes they lose documents.

The more, the better.

I was a little hesitant about that since they squabbled about NOT sending prior evidence, but I'll have to resend the Lease agreements with a cover letter explaining things anyway. 

Thanks, boss.

8 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Add the explanation for the lease to your cover letter when you reply.

That's a good idea, bud. Thanks! 

5 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Health insurance info, 401k beneficiary info, power of attorney, mail addressed to both, travel evidence -boarding passes, hotel bookings, passport stamps-, shared memberships.

Crazy thing is, they already have the information about her being apart of my company health insurance. Like I said, the guy who took hold of this case just really was going through something and decided to take it out on me or something. 

1 minute ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Why didn't you included all of that already in the original submission? That's good stuff. 

How about living wills and Power of Attorney for each other? Are ya listed as each others emergency contacts at your jobs ? Do y'all share a telephone plan? How about car insurance? Shared car titles? 

To answer your first question, is because originally, we didn't even have all that stuff yet. We literally decided to get our life insurance and stuff together in 2019 since she was able to get a job and we were both working together. 

We have a cell phone plan, but her name is not in it; Just her number. 

Not the car insurance yet. I should have mentioned that her License is actually a Permit, she takes her road test in a few days. Hopefully she passes.  No shared car title, and I didn't know about Power of Attorney.

Hey guys. We filed back in 2020 of January and finally got some kind of response back this far into 2021. They hit us with an RFE despite the evidence we gave. Apparently according to the Officer that got his hands on our case; the Lease of our apartment 'did not appear as if there was intent to renew(Dude really?) and does not cover the entirety of our marriage'. Crazy thing is; we waited to put her name on the lease until we could change her last name to mine. SS dept didn't give us an update until middle of the year in 2018 (We got married in 2017). Not to mention that We had no choice but to wait until the Lease was about to renew before I could add another person to it. We even explained this to an officer during our AOS interview in Charleston back in 2018 and he understood completely.

So the furthest back we have is 2019.   

And because our joint bank accounts only consisted of transfers (I.E. my Wife and I, transfer money into that account to save up to buy a house together) they didn't consider it enough evidence to prove commingling of our finances. That felt like a slap to the face, considering we submitted our recent IRS tax returns signifying that we were indeed filing Jointly.  

Right now We're gathering 

• Photocopies of our Driver's Licenses that have our matching address on it.
• Copies of our renter's insurance that has both of our names on it. 
• Having our Life insurance policy mailed to us so we can send them copies.
• A copy of her name put on the Electric bill. Sadly, from the look of the picture sent to me by the agent, they had her listed as 'C/O' but her name is highlighted and states "Handling Business" next to it. 
• and a couple of friends agreed to write Affidavits for us. 

Any other suggestions? I honestly feel like our case just fell into one of the Officers who just didn't have their coffee that morning or something. 

Thanks in advance.   

On 12/20/2017 at 2:04 PM, nightingalejules said:

It’s hard to say... they might send it back and ask you to resubmit, they might send you an rfe or they might just ask her about it at the interview.

Well if you'd like to know, we've actually received a I-845 interview for the 15 of march without an rfe. I don't know if they simply saw through the mistake and sent it along anyway or what. Just in case I'm bringing a corrected version with me; so if they ask for it, they'll have it right there.

We're actually kind of nervous; of course nothing is fake in our relationship, but we know that this is the point of Yay or Nay. They may schedule a second interview, but if we screw up She'll have to go back home.

2 hours ago, Scandi said:

They can approve the i-485 at any point after the interview. Either right after the interview when you're still in the IOs office, or later on. I was approved on the spot for instance, while many others have to wait for days, weeks or even months after the interview to get an approval.

 

From the approval date (which like I said can be any day after the interview or same day as the interview) the greencard usually shows up within 2 weeks. Often they tell you to wait for 4 weeks just to be on the safe side, but normally it's somewhere between 1-2 weeks (it's sent with priority mail).

Thank you.

12 hours ago, Scandi said:

If the greencard is approved before the EAD, she will never recieve the EAD.

 

It usually takes around 2 weeks to receive the greencard once it's approved.

Two weeks after an approved interview? Forgive my ignorance: I'm just getting things straight before explaining to my wife. 

They can approve the GC right there at the interview, then 2 weeks later it comes in the mail, right?

Well, my wife just got her I-485 interview notice in the mail today. I couldn't find any recent posts (2016 or newer) about this so I'm making one now to help those around the same time period.

Question 1
My Wife and I filed also for EAD, request for work authorization in order to work whilst the Green Card is approved. We haven't gotten anything about that yet; does this mean she'll have her GC approved before the EAD can be issued?

Question 2
What happens after a I-485 interview? How long does it take to get a GC if the interview is successful?

Thanks in advance, guys!

On 1/2/2018 at 10:27 PM, CM&KV said:

Hopefully you were able to get a new SSC. I just received mine this afternoon, it was requested on the 19th and created on the 22nd. 

 

I was starting to get really worried since recently the post person left all the mailboxes unlocked over the holiday weekend and my apartment manager is sending in a complaint to the post office about how careless the person was.

 

Nothing yet. Apparently the SSA gave my wife a number to call the DHS about this matter and of of course, she was met with an automated system. She did say something about it giving required documents to her within 10 days, but I'll call them myself.

2 hours ago, nightingalejules said:

It’s hard to say... they might send it back and ask you to resubmit, they might send you an rfe or they might just ask her about it at the interview.

Yeah, I mean everything else is correct. Anyone reading it would see and understand what I actually mean, given that the entire thing shows I'm covering for a household of 2. It literally was sent in the mail on Monday and is expected to be at the post box on Thursday the 21st. 

Just hope that if I get the RFE I can easily resolve it. Or by good hopes, they'll just process it as is just knowing my intentions. 

I'm just looking for a second opinion on this. I know I'll likely get an RFE. 

When filling out the form to sponsor my Wife, I of course marked that I'd be the sole sponsor, but it just hit me that I wrote her name down in the Additional family members you are supporting portion. (It states "Family Member 1, 2, 3,.. etc) When it seems you do not need to.

In my own shameful stupidity, I put the relationship to her (thinking it was me) as spouse. It literally is her exact info.. with the A number and everything. 

Everywhere else is 100% Correct, even where it asks our household size (2 for she and I) 

Do you believe I'll get an RFE? I have a strong feeling I will. It's a good thing we filed an EAD with it. 

3 hours ago, AshMarty said:

I just realized that I never actually answered your question but remember having the same question.

 

I forget what we determined was the correct thing to do but I believe we did not resubmit the form but I could mistaken as it has been about 6 months since we filed the paper work. I am sure someone can better clarify. I know the medical information from your K1 should be reconnected with your AOS packet for the review.

I appreciate your input. Though if you are not too sure, I hope another may come along to clarify as you said.

I've been searching all through the forums and the internet but I've not found a direct answer as of yet. I am aware that form I-693 must be done by a civil surgeon or you can avoid going to another cs by simply sending a copy of DS-3025 along with the AOS packet. The problem I face now is that My fiance did not get a DS-3025 form. They only gave her a copy of her x-rays on a CD. Do we still need to submit form I-693 even though she already had her medical examination within one year of coming to the US?

On 11/21/2017 at 1:26 PM, CM&KV said:

I got married in October 24th and went into my SSA office on October 27th as well. I still have yet received my new card. Recently did a change of address, I think I submitted my paper work for that a week before hand (early October) since I moved to a new apartment in September. I have also submitted an email asking what's going in with my card a week ago as well. Overall no word on my SSN card. Sadly need it to change my name on all my documents since my last name is the female version of my husband's.

 

I wonder if they are having issues.... Since it shouldn't be taking this long. 

 

Also I made sure my new address was right, and had the apartment manager look over the paperwork since I didnt get the card yet. My apartment manager knows what's going on with my husband's status etc.

Yes, it sounds like they're having some kind of issue with processing anything. I called the SSA yester day to see what's going on, but they told me that it was under DHS approval. The SS card was 'Pending' which is really strange considering we got her original card literally 2 weeks after we applied for it. I was planning to look into trying to find a way to contact the DHS to see what the hold up is.

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

I can't really speak to why the new card is taking so long, but it's possible that it's going through manual verification, which can take 6 weeks or so. My wife had to try 3 times to get them to agree to issuing a new card in her married name. The 3rd time we used the I-485's NOA1 to help show the name change with DHS...although many others had no issue and other yet had to wait until they got an EAD. It's not consistent from office to office.

 

You can apply for AOS without the updated card, or even with no card ever issued. Use the desired (i.e. married) name, and list the maiden name under other names used.

Okay, thanks for that. We may have to do this.

After a troubling process, (all that k1 visa stuff.) my now Wife and I are just waiting for her corrected social security card to come back in the mail. Problem here is, we applied for correction that on October 27th (We were married on Oct. 24th) and here we are on November 21st and still nothing in the mail. 

We went to the office and applied in person (we had no choice, per our county's rules) both times; to get the card upon arrival and to correct it after marriage. It didn't take too long to get the first card; why is it taking a bit longer for just a Corrected card? 

Also, can we apply for AOS if we already got married and informed the social security office, but not yet received the corrected social security card? 

Thanks.

If you went and got recommended for approval, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The important thing is that you went to your interview, got an approval, and you're on your way. 

Congratulations btw.

If you're still worried, perhaps you should try calling calling the office and explain what you're seeing. Perhaps it's just a bug in the website coding that needs to be worked on. All in all, don't miss any sleep over this.