SuzyBandseer

At last... Alan's green card arrived this past Wednesday, about 5 weeks after we entered the country, along with a 3rd welcome letter. He went to the social security office on Friday and was able to get a printout with his social security number, so now we can get his banking stuff set up at the same bank I use. Next hurdle is getting his driver's license, but then all the IDs and docs should be in order for a while. He also has a job offer at a great company, so we feel like our start here has gone pretty well!

The welcome to the US letter arrived today (entered country Oct 24, info entered in system Nov 7, letter generated Nov 8) so we expect everything is in good order.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Hi Alan,

It's not a lack of security checks, but rather that your entry has not been recorded in a database called SAVE that SSA must use to verify your status.

There is nothing you can do to influence DHS to get them to input you.

What did the SSA worker do with your application? She is supposed to hold it for 10 days and keep checking for your SAVE status before starting a manual verification. You can keep checking back weekly with SSA.

Hi Meauxna,

Thanks for your reply, the person at the SSA printed off the new application for me to check and sign and I think she was going to send off along with a copy of my passport and visa for processing.

I would prefer not to have to go back and wait the 1.5 -2 hrs to see someone at the SSA, is there no other way?

Alan.

It's suzy again. Hmm, since you don't need it right away, I would just wait on it anyway. You will have to put an address that it can be mailed to, so make sure you can still get mail at that address while you are away.

I would suggest maybe later checking in with the Frankfurt SSA folks, but I applied for my updated card (US citizen SS card) through them (I am not sure if they entered the form there or sent it to another office, but the address was entered as Munich, North Carolina (combination of my old & new address) which does not exist, and therefore never arrived! I had to visit the local SS office to get it fixed anyway,

Hi everyone this is Alan, Suzybandseers' husband.

Just a quick update on my SSN problems, I went my local SSA office for an update, and found out that the DHS has not completed their security checks on me. The SSA cannot start the SSN process until the checks are completed and my Alien registration number is inputted to the SSA database.

I have just spend 30mins on the DHS trying to find a contact number to ring and see if there is a problem or it is just held up in a backlog. I found a 1800 number ,however, the person at the end of the phone cannot give me any details on the status...

So if anyone has been in the same situation and has any good ideas so trying to find out what is happening in the DHS, I would be extremely interested in hearing them!

Thanks,

Alan.

PS- Also just in case the automatic SSN registration does not work I applied today for a SSN as well!

Thanks, we are doing fine. I started work last week already! Alan has had a promising interview for a job he is very interested in.

The only small snag we have had concerns his social security number. We checked the box to have an automatic application upon entry. He called social security and he is still not in the system. I believe the instructions mdyoung (or what is his name?) gives say to go & apply if you are not in the system in 3 weeks. We figure if he is not in the system at all after 2 weeks (even without an assigned number), something didn't work quite right so he is applying tomorrow. Actually, I am not sure I read about anyone where the automatic SSN application worked out in a timely fashion.

It's not a huge problem except for the fact that his UK driver's license is not valid after 60 days as a resident in the state of NC, and we need the SSN to get the new driver's license here. If we wait around and the trigger never happened, we could get in a tight spot waiting on a new application to go through.

We also tried to buy a car in both of our names & thought we were successful using his UK drivers license. The application bounced at the DMV for the registration/title because he didn't have a US SSN to go along with a foreign driver's license, so we have had to redo all the paperwork in my name only. They wouldn't take the alien registration number instead. Both of my banks (state employees credit union and wachovia) would not give him an account without an SSN so we are just making due for now.

Quick update... we entered through Dulles on Oct 24. No problems whatsoever. From the time we landed (United Airlines flight) til the time we finished re-checking the bags and going though security again after going through immigration, it took exactly an hour. I sat with my husband in the secondary immigration check for his CR-1 visa for the whopping 10 minutes we had to wait (included in the hour time). We got there on a Tuesday around 2:40pm-- there were plenty of people coming through but the staff at that airport is very organized and know what they are doing. Everyone we saw at the secondary station was just being called up to the desk for a documentation check and that was about it. No one asked about the xray.

I'll post again when we get the green card & social security card in hand.

Congratulations!

About the xray... in the visa packet we got from the Frankfurt consulate, there is a latter that says that the xray can go in your checked luggage.

Sorry Anna, I have not been on VisaJourney for a while. We are moving to Raleigh/Durham next week. I accepted a job with a software company in Raleigh after a few phone interviews. I found the job on Monster. My husband was working for o2 here in Munich and he has put his resume on Monster and on a tech job site (dice.com). He has gotten a couple calls but so far nothing has been quite right.

Too bad you are not moving to RTP since there is an Infineon office there! I am guessing you have found something by now anyway.

Hi Candace,

Things are getting crazy around here-- today is Alan's last day of work, mine is tomorrow (plus I have a phone interview for a job in the US at the end of the day!), we are selling all our stuff & they place is a wreck, and we are flying to England this Saturday to visit until Oct 9-- anyway, just wanted to tell you now good luck in Frankfurt on the 10th! I know you will be just fine & will say the same thing we did afterwards-- it's more of a pain in the butt than anything else!

Ours took about 3.5 months and we could have made it a little shorter maybe by handing in the I-130 in person and having some other documents ready earlier. Timelines could change by the time you file but Frankfurt DCF is known for being pretty speedy over the past few years. You can activate the visa before the end of the 6 months by going into the US if for some reason you don't actually move within the 6 months.

Since many German companies require 3 months notice on your contract, I don't think the consulate would question it if you said you hadn't set the exact date you intended to move before you got the visa. But they did want to know about where we intended to live and if we were applying for or had jobs lined up in the US so I would have some sort of plan in mind other than "we will see in 6 months". You also have to have a US address to put down as where you intend to be first. Could be a parents house or something though.

We just gave 3 months notice at work when we had our I-130 approved. Worked out fine as we could work while we finished up the process. The good thing about getting the visa in hand earlier is that the non USC can then put on resumes that he is eligible to work in the US upon arrival, and so you may have a better chance of arranging a new job before you move.

Anna,

Did your husband help you rework your lebenslauf into an American style resume? I would also try to just translate the titles of the degrees into the closest things to the English equivalents. You can always explain anything in more detail when you get to an interview. I would also try to avoid using German job titles on the resume unless it is absolutely necessary because it might look scary.

We rewrote my husband's English CV into an American resume so it was in familiar format and wording. Things like hobbies and marital status are a big no-no. We also included a line about his eligibility to work in the US because if there is no info they are likely just to chuck your stuff out unless you are really outstanding or they have no one else.

It's always important to take the time to submit a cover letter when you send in your resume. If you summarize your qualifications for the specific job you are applying for, it makes it easier for them to take a better look at you. And helps them be convinced they will like you before they even talk to you! Another thing that I think might be unique to the US is sending a thank you (email is OK) after an interview. It is fairly standard in the US, but my German boss thought "wow, this guy is really interested!" after we got a thank you from an American interviewee the other day.

My husband and I are both looking for jobs in NC from overseas now (we're in Munich til Oct 24) and sort of in the same position-- you have to be local. And many, many, times the jobs are given to people who know someone working at the company. So the other day I sent out an email to my friends and old colleagues with a few lines about what sort of jobs we were looking for, our skills, and backgrounds. I asked them if they heard of any openings or knew people who worked at our target companies (we listed examples), please let us know, and told them they could forward the email and that we had resumes ready.

Another idea is to join a professional organization. Then you have another source of networking and also another name on your resume a recruiter might recognize.

Hope this gives you some more ideas. Job hunting has never been my favorite thing so I feel your pain! You sound really with it though and in the end I think you will find a job that values your international experience rather than holds it against you.

Check www.hrs.de to see if you can get a cheaper rate than that and rebook. We booked there for 84 a night for two of us, including breakfast. If they have a convention going on though that could be why it costs more.

It is a new hotel, lacks any personality, but is the most convenient.

Hah, isn't that the truth. Don't panic if he says they didn't use the form he came with at the doctor. In Munich, they told my husband that they use something else instead. I have no idea what it was since they sent it directly to the consulate and I didn't see it but apparently it was fine.

Hi Jen,

We got our CR-1 visa in the mail today so they seem to be moving things out in Frankfurt. I hope everything goes smoothly for you too!

Visa arrived today-- so quickly! And everything is correct to boot! Oh happy day! The Frankfurt consulate has really been on top of it.

Nothing happens in a year for you. The I-551 is just something temporary to show until you have his green card in hand, mailed to your US address, which should be within a year anyway. You should be getting the 10 year green card and don't have to worry about anything other than filing change of address forms, as far as I understand.

I provided a copy of my new passport with new name and my marriage certificate. They won't just let you fill out the form with the new name without providing evidence.

Hi Jen,

I don't think anyone can give you a solid answer, but I can tell you that we successfully interviewed in Frankfurt for a CR-1 visa on Sept 11 and were told that we should expect the visa in 2 weeks. Of course this is not the same visa. They also gave us contact information and said if we didn't have it that time frame then we should fax them for a quick response. We are not going to the US until later, but we do need his passport back for travel on Sept 30, so we are trusting that almost 3 weeks will be ok. If your fiance lives near Frankfurt, he could also pick it up to save time. Otherwise they mail it & it must be signed for. Personally I would not try to push the flight date too close or you could end up with more worry, but the end of the 2nd week of October for you is about the time span we banked on.

HTH

Ah... just to clarify something... I looked at the new I-864 form again just now. It says: "In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the total value of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and the current poverty guidelines for your household size. However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or minor child, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference." So actually, we were case #2, and my assets actually did meet this smaller criteria with no income included, so I was an OK sponsor by the book. Not sure why he asked about the current employment then and used that as criteria. Just did not want to confuse or mislead anyone, you should always go by the rules and not make assumptions anyway!

Just an update...

We had our interview yesterday and were approved! Took about 3.5 hours total.

We got there at 8:15 for our 8:30 appt. We had to get a number outside the consulate building and this number was what they used to call us for each of the steps. We talked to 4 people total: 1 to take the money, 1 to take the DS-230 part II and the picture, 1 to check the docs & make sure the affidavit forms and evidence looked generally ok, and then the last was the consular officer. There's not really anything tricky I have to share though. The only thing we had done wrong was put my (US citizen) address on his DS-230 part II but the girl just crossed it out and asked me to write my US address instead. Actually the best advice I have is to bring a sweater because it was cold in there!

It took the longest waiting to be called for the doc check. Then the lady looked at my (the sponsor's) affidavit of support. I guess since my job (German income) is ending and my assets alone didn't qualify, she asked if we had a joint sponsor. We said we did (we had all the paperwork from a friend just in case) but that we were hoping to use my husband's assets to qualify. So she looked at his I-864A and said OK that's fine and did not even take the stuff from our friend. We had made copies of the tax returns (I submitted 3 years federal and 1 year of state to help with the domicile part) so she kept those. I also had copies of a couple credit card mailings, my last bank statements with the same US address (printed off the internet), and a copy of my insurance profile that lists my husband as my spouse as evidence of address and relationship. I also wrote up a short note about how we intended to return to the same address in the US with references to the other docs. He submitted copies of his last bank statements, investments, and documents about the house he owns. His job is also ending when we leave Germany.

Finally we were called to see the officer. He was very friendly and professional (the other one working that day looked pleasant as well) and just asked us a few questions, mainly directed at my husband. Mostly it was stuff off his applications, just to verify, and some questions about me. When we met, what my college major was, etc. Definitely not trying to trip us up, just checking things out. He asked why we were moving back to the US and if we had jobs there (we don't but are now applying). Then he looked over the affidavits and asked me if I was currently working. I said yes but my last day was the end of this month. He said, but you are employed as of today? I said yes. He said, well that is good enough to qualify as the sponsor then, it is relative to the interview date (my salary is high enough and I had the last 3 years of tax stuff so I think that was good, though he said we only needed one, I didn't have enough assets though). Actually I had not even included a letter from my employer or my last pay stub as I thought it wasn't going to help anything. We had both written on our affidavits in the employment section that the jobs were ending at the end of Sept & we were qualifying on assets alone. We did write our salaries in just b/c it seemed to make a better impression. Anyway, he kept my husband's form just in case anything got questioned later. We used the new forms, BTW. He wrote a big fat OK on the bottom of the form and said, you know what that means, don't you! We were done by 11:45 or so and he said we would have the visa in 2 weeks. He gave us a green form (this is also the form they give you if something is missing) with the contact info if we didn't get the visa by that time. And he gave us the extra pictures back from the I-130, which was kind of funny since we had to give them another picture on that day!

So that was it. We had brought pictures of us with both families, wedding pictures, receipts from the wedding and our rings, airline stubs from the honeymoon, a copy of our first email, bank statements from a year back in some cases, etc... and they didn't look at any of it. That said, I am glad we had all of it because if they wanted it something we didn't have, it could have caused problems or delays, and it made us feel more prepared.

Sidenote: I was able to also file the form for my updated social security card with my married name afterwards (again I am the US citizen, to avoid confusion. we checked that we want a SSN for him on the DS-230) in the same building. The advantage of this is that you don't have to mail in your passport. They make an "official copy" of your passport and marriage certificate and mail in the form for you. I should get it in 2-4 weeks at our German address.

Now we just need to book the airline tix, pack up house, etc etc etc!

That's great news! Happy for you & thanks for checking back in.

We will probably do POE at Philly or Dulles (going to NC these are usually the best options) but it's good to know ATL is OK if we have to fly Delta.

Enjoy your new adventure together in the US!

We got our appt letter while we were on vacation-- it's Sept 11 at 8:30am. This is one of the 2 dates we requested so we are pleased! Booked up our DeutscheBahn advance summer saver train tickets as well so things are moving along. It's just over a week from now!

Hi folks (and Candace in particular),

Just wanted to let the Frankfurt folks know that if you are not in a big hurry to get your interview, they may take a while scheduling it (ok, not "a while" in the scheme of things but "a while" compared to people who are trying to leave quickly and the ones we have seen lately). We faxed our last stuff 4 weeks ago and still no letter in the mailbox . I think it is known that they take into account when you want to leave the country, and since we said mid-October, we were not top prio. Everything seems to be in order though, see timeline.

Also, we put some info on our fax cover letter as to when we would be out of the country and unavailable, and the person who ended up with the file didn't have that information, so it looks like the cover letter got ditched and it was lucky we called. I don't know if it maybe makes sense to write that sort of info on the OF-169 form itself.

Anyway we were hoping to get our interview date before we went on honeymoon but unless it comes tomorrow morning, it's not gonna happen. I assume they now have our schedule now and they won't pick the date for sometime in 2 weeks we are gone, ack! I would not be happy if we were denied due to missing the interview & had to reopen the case! We'll have a friend check the mail

I was thinking of you this morning and wondering how you could be having your interview today since it is a public holiday but then I realized it's only a holiday in Bavaria

Hope it went well! You might already be done by now with a smile on your face!