AshMarty

Has anyone had any updates from the Potomac service center (YSC). I don't think we have heard anything since Feb. My husband did get his biometrics appointment in before all the craziness happened. 

My husband is getting another letter from USCIS today (informed delivery). I am assuming it’s his biometrics appointment. Haha right? 

Our packet is being processed through the Potomac servicing center. 

9 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

I just got a text message that my case was received! I got a WAC number as I expected, so I guess I'm in for a long wait. 

I sent a lot of pages and most of them them were bank statements because I couldn't figure out a way to print out quarterly statements, so I just printed out all the monthly statements for 2 and a half years, all the mortgage statements, the deed to the house, and around 24 pictures, mostly from trips we've taken. Hopefully it's enough. 

35 minutes ago, Farrah said:

Also, wow I feel overwhelmed reading about how much people send in. I sent the paperwork along with letters from family, bank statement, lease, credit card and phone bills, car title, tax transcripts..hoping that’s enough! 

Yeah we didn’t send excessive amounts either. 

I have investment funds with our address and names, life insurance, health insurance, retirement funds with beneficiaries, our sons birth certificate, some cc statements we use together, joint savings, car insurance policy, and our license with our addresses on them. Boarding passes for international trips together. Pictures at big events. At best it was 60 pages. 

I bought my my house before I met my husband and never updated anything not even my married name on the mortgage or title because life gets busy. So I am hoping the information we submitted is enough. They will let us know if we need more. 

.

29 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I understand that. USA  Immigration law is very complex. It got this way because more people to come to America than any other country, and there are more illegal immigrants in America than in any other country.  
 

And so while I can imagine (but as a male obviously not fully internalize) how this would affect a pregnant mother in a similar situation, that isn’t a reason to fail to enforce a law that every immigrant and petitioner (including your husband and presumably you) agreed to.  If change in the law or how it is enforced is of concern to a petitioner or immigrant, there are competent lawyers standing by to answer those questions and if not set ones mind at ease, at least remove the uncertainty.  
 

As an immigrant I explicitly signed a document during my AOS interview that said I would not be a public charge.  I kept my promise. It isn’t fair that I kept my word and others who didn’t get to benefit while my taxes pay for their benefits. And my taxes were hiked in and 1986 and 1993 during times in my life when I could ill afford it.  Hiked after I bought a house  Hiked after my daughter was born.  
 

Meanwhile millions of people on public charge were given green cards or citizenship.  

While I agree we signed an agreement. My husband has never been a public charge. He has worked in the US for 10 years. We each make into the 6 digits with our Individual income. 

I would never consider that my son a US citizen and born to me a US citizen would be considered a public charge because of a medical diagnoses. But also the comments of this thread and brief articles I did say didn’t not mention otherwise. 

Our income was never discussed during the process to put him on medicaid, the NICU social worker took care of it based on medical need, because he didn’t qualify because of income. When I call Medicaid his name is not associated with mine or my husbands because he is an individual on a Medicaid plan (which is difficult for even Medicaid employees to understand because it was not a income based application related to my husband and I). 

1 minute ago, Mike E said:

First my best wishes for your son. I experienced a taste of what you are going though raising my son. 

Second,  your son is a natural born American Citizen correct? What’s the issue? 

That’s what many have said. I just wasn’t sure since he is a dependent of my husband (a GC holder) and I a USC if it was going to count negatively. 

But many have have pointed out it will not because my husband doesn’t use the benefit. 

Thanks for your reply.

I couldn’t imagine that possibility that my husbands permanent residency could have come into question because I couldn’t carry our son to full term. That would have weighed heavily on me.  

6 hours ago, Highmystic said:

As far as I can see, your son is not an immigrant, therefor he is not subject to public charge laws.    And I have to say I am sorry for what your son had to endure, and hope all will be well. 

Thank you he is truly a miracle that survived when odds were stacked against him. Now he is home and thriving 💙

5 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

As I have read it as well you are good to go because your son who is the USC is the one on Medicaid and not your husband. 

Great thanks! 

10 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Your son is a US citizen I presume- don’t think he needs to worry.

Thanks. Yes he is. 

Apparently this was a big thing while he was hospitalized so it’s new to me. Also it sounds like they would look at our income, our primary health insurance, and we would be fine anyways from reading through the previous posts if things would come into question ever. I mean even our dog has great health insurance. So I feel we are pretty self sufficient. 

I am curious because I feel like this could get confusing.

My husband is a GC holder, I am a US citizen. We both do very well for ourselves with our careers and don’t qualify for any financial need benefits. 

However. This past year we had our son. He was born over 3 months premature. He spent 3 months in then NICU. My son qualified for Medicaid based off of birth weight (2 pound 9 Oz) so he has it as a secondary insurance (it’s secondary because I have good insurance through my work).

He qualifies for a year based on medical qualifications (again not financial qualifications). My husband and I do not have Medicaid just our son. Although my son only will receive this benefit for a year many other diagnoses for children are greater than a year and not financially need based. Will this count against their parents? That would seem incredibly terrible to deny a child of resources because one of their parents is a GC holder. 

Just curious? 

2 hours ago, Momoejin said:

Hello! Im here to file I-751 . I'm K1 and K2 for my 2 children. Do I need to  make 3 bank check for the payment of I-751 or just make 1 check for all  together with the biometrics fee? Thank you

We put everything on one personal check. It was cashed without any issues. 

16 hours ago, DiamondEyes490 said:

The three letters indicate your service center. MSC is the National Benefits Center. They normally route petitions that require interviews (like AOS). Having your petition go elsewhere doesn't guarantee no interview, but better probability.

 

There is a trend of previous CR-1s getting interviews as we were only ever interviewed at embassies abroad and not within the US, so you are probably fine.

Nevermind I miss read this post. Looks our case was sent to the Potomac service center since our case number begins with YSC

On 1/9/2020 at 9:09 AM, ibocan said:

am i reading right? is it says 2k pages? Jesus. I am preparing my wife's and it is barely 60 pages.  i guess my 8 month old will play big role in this package  

Our Packet is probably at max 60 pages as well. We also have an 8 month old, must be the stage of parenting. haha. Our son was actually born 3 months early so we spent 3 months in the NICU with him (lots of family NICU photos were sent along with some others from the past 2 years).  We hit all the major suggestions for papers/items to be filed for proof of marriage/relationship. Most of the documents of proof that we sent were a page or two max. 

Our packet was received 1/16/2020. We already received the extension letter in the mail. 

2 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

basically ... everything.

 

I stole this from someone on here for my own records for when we file ROC , and don't know who to attribute it to, but I found it a pretty comprehensive guideline, his car loan/car, joint car insurance policy, and beneficiaries on our work retirement accounts. 

Between my husband and I yesterday we both can home with about 2 pounds each of paper work. I forgot that we have a lot of things like life insurance policies through work, joint credit cards, our joint retirement account, our joint account credit union account all our bills come out of. 

Thanks for all the reminders, super helpful.

Things have been crazy with our son coming home from the hospital after a 3 month stay. We have a lot of doctors appointments and we don't have as much time and energy to put towards this process as we did the first go around but luckily I feel we are very familiar with how things work by now. 

As always this website is always very helpful. 

Also one more question what is the form/website that tells when you travel in and out of the country?

I am planning on showing this along with the plane/vacation reservations and pictures together since I don't think I have the boarding passes any more. I remember thinking I should keep them but likely throw them out in the end. My iPhone pictures have a time stamp and show the location where the pictures were taken also. 

20 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

 

I would do some other mundane easy to get stuff like electric bills, water bills, cell phone bills, ...  

We updated our cell phone plan so that would be a good one to add. I will be honest my husband moved in with me and I never got around to adding him to the house mortgage or electric bills (just was never a big thing for us they are actually still in my maiden name because I just hate calling these companies). 

4 minutes ago, G Walters said:

That is good but I would add a will and medical power of attorney, also any utility bills that are in both names Also copies of your DL or ID with same address.

 

Good idea about the license and I will look into the medical power of attorney.

We already submitted the utility bills and co-owners of vehicles during the GC interview. I will look into our bills and see if there was anything we added since the initial GC interview  

Hi Everyone, Its been a couple of years since I was last on but now its time to start removal of conditions. We can file the paperwork in 12 days (the 90 day window).

    How much evidence are people submitting typically?

We have an investment fund together, joint account with both paychecks going into this account, just had a baby (which is why I am just looking into this now), a handful of international vacations together before the baby arrived, joint health insurance, our son was in the NICU for 3 months so lots of medical records with my husband in the documents. Throw in a couple of pictures as a family, during these trips, during our hospital stay, and since we have been home with our son. Life insurance and a Will were on the agenda before my son was born but my son arrived 3 months early and all that was put to the side. 

Do you think this would be enough? 

23 hours ago, blessed981 said:

 

sorry we forgot to mention that we have been married and living together one week and we are planning to rush the filing of AOS so we don't loose time waiting. in one or two weeks, it is impossible to have any of those evidence.

what we were asking is that should we wait about a month or two until we do all those stuff that you stated and then apply for AOS, or just apply with no evidence and then gather them for interciew while risking getting denied for no evidence..?

We only put in our marriage certificate no additional evidence. It didn't even occur to me to do otherwise because we had only lived together for less than a month and I own my house. 

We had all the other evidence for our AOS interview 7 months later. We were fine and my husband was approved no issues from a K1. 

3 minutes ago, Mrsjackson said:

If you’re and immigrant your agreement with the US government is that you do not use these benefits regardless of qualifying for them. 

I am not arguing immigrants and the use of these benefits....... I find it interesting the government is contradicting itself.

In one statement it says you should be able to take care of yourself at 125% of the poverty line but than on the other hand it says 130% is not enough income to support yourself. 

Just an interesting blurb. People making less than 130% or 138% of the poverty line qualify for government assistance programs but also making less than 130% or 138% qualifies you to sponsor someone for immigration. 

"Programs That Use the Poverty Guidelines

* The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) is available to those who earn 130 percent of the federal poverty level. Households must also have less than $3,500 in assets with an elderly or disabled person, or $2,250 or less in households without an elderly or disabled member.

* Medicaid is available to families whose income is 138 percent of the poverty level. The Affordable Care Act provides insurance subsidies for households between 138 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level. 

Other programs include Head Start, the National School Lunch Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program."

17 minutes ago, Pennycat said:

Huh that is crazy. I mean, just now my area's census tracts are broken down. We live in a pretty nice neighborhood, that is broken up into what looks like 4 or 5 census tracts. The one we're in is long and skinny, it follows the main street with all the shops/bars/restaurants and the more residential streets that run parallel (so like one block of main street, the street to the north and the two streets to the south, including the side streets that connect them). Then there's one block that is a little island all to itself. Anyway, the median income for that island tract is $100k more than the one for mine, and mine is not-too-shabby even for the overall area (DC metro area). What in the heck is this about?!

 

Any idea how they set these things and...why?

If you go to the website you can see where you personally fall in your region and country. I was surprised to find my husband and I are in the upper 25% of our region and country. I guess you tend to hang out with people that are in a similar income class as you, so it always just seems like we are getting by like everyone else but apparently we are comfortably in the upper 25% according to census statistics... it is always eye opening.

16 minutes ago, Derik-Lina said:

Before I write anything, let me assure you that Trumps gets and will always get what Trump has wanted, from Presidency to 460 Billion Dollars from the Saudis. He might not always get 100 % of he is after, but he gets a nice chunk. That said, this income guidelines, government benefits and sponsorships must be revised. My mother and now my siblings have never ever gotten a penny from the government nor from anyone. This is the land where work is available. One can have two and three jobs. And for someone to get on Government assistance of any sort, while working under the table and sucking us all dry, they ought to go to jail, let alone deported. I have seen recent Immigrants park their BMW s and Merceidez and use Foodstamps  at the grocery store while in brand-name clothes; DISGUSTING. To make matters even worse, I d hear them complaining about our government. Yes, I heard them; I am fluent in 6 languages. I have confronted some in the past, but have kept my mouth shut recently as I have grown up to realize nothing ever changes. As for Sponsorship, I am sorry to say this, but if you are jobless with 4 kids and live with your Mom, you have no business bringing anyone to Marry. Marry here and get a job. I am sorry to have sounded harsh, but I become furious when I see people with 2 and 3 co-sponsors fly thru the system as I wait forever. I have worked and paid taxes for the last 30 some years. I make enough to support three families, but yet, my wife and I must wait and wait and even wait more just because we happened to be from the wrong part of the world. I hope I did not offend anyone, but I felt I had to share as this is something that has bothered me forever.

HAha. I am not really sure way you are replying to my comment with your rant. I was just correcting someone's comments that 40,000 was upper class, because it isn't. It is upper lower class or lower middle class status in the US.

15 hours ago, janet3 said:

It is absolutely not a misnomer....

The article clearly states that the current administration would like to move the “guideline” above the 125%. Making the bar 250% would mean only the upper middle class or rich could assist their family (or loved ones....aka....fiance) could come here. 

 

FYI: Actually $40,000 is the cut off of middle class and lower class incomes.

"Income data released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that 2017 median household income was the highest on record at $61,372. Pew defines the middle class as those earning between two-thirds and double the median household income.This means that the category of middle-income is made up of people making somewhere between $40,500 and $122,000. Those making less than $39,500 make up the lower-income bracket. Those making more than $118,000 make up the upper-income bracket. Easy, right? Just take your household income and see where you fit given these numbers."


Read more: Which Income Class Are You? https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/which-income-class-are-you.aspx#ixzz5TdttIp53 
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13 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

So for people in countries who can't get tourist visas (Philippines for instance is really difficult), they can just get bypassed by others who wish to misuse their visa and it's intended purpose? Sounds pretty unfair, hence the reason we have the proper process.

 

I wish it was much more strict personally. People always think other countries are so more relaxed than the US; but I've even been thrown into secondary in Canada, you know that o"h so amazingly open and welcoming country" people always say it is.

My husbands family is always nervous going through Canada to the US. Last trip they were denied boarding in China because they didn't have a visa to fly through the country on a layover to the US.....

I agree, I think we are pretty lax with our processes in the US.