Rose_3001

Thanks for the advice - good to know that there are more steps I can take. It often feels like you're coming up against a brick wall! 

Make sure you don't leave the field office without that stamp in your passport, no matter what your IO says! If they don't approve it immediately (if the letter you're given doesn't have the 'recommended for approval' box ticked) then as far as I'm aware you are able to come and go on the combo card. Good luck and enjoy your trip!
 

I'd suggest making an INFOPASS appointment and talk to an immigration officer in person. Since it'll be at your field office, they can defer to the IO himself and/or his supervisor.
 
Did you manage to get the stamp in your passport and go on your trip?? The stamp is as good as the GC but you still need the GC.

Hello! 
 
So I went to the interview with my husband this morning. The officer did not even ask nor talk anything about the medical. 
 
(History: I had my medical at my birth country on May 2017, as requirement for K1 visa. They gave the results to me on a sealed envelope which then I submitted to the immigration officer at point of entry in the US on July 2017. I only included a copy of the DS-3025 in the AOS packet when I submitted my AOS application Sept 2017, and kept the original. I did not submit an i-693.)
 
The officer asked us for originals to inspect: birth certificates, passport, IDs, marriage certificate. Did not ask for original DS-3025. She asked for wedding photographs. I submitted a total of 5 pictures: 2 wedding, 1 with my fam overseas, 1 with his fam in a different state and 1 of us in vacation somewhere. She asked for proof of us being together. I gave her copy of lease, insurance, 2 joint bank statements, 1 credit card, 1 phone bill. She went through it all, but said she has enough and returned the credit card and phone bill.
 
We brought with us an updated affidavit of support form, the latest version of the form, to show most recent tax returns of 2017, then 2016 & 2015, W2s, paystubs and letter of employment because my husband changed jobs end of last year and 2017 tax return has my name in there; so she thanked us for doing that and took all of it. She asked my husband the questions in the affidavit of support form. Then she asked me questions from the AOS form like, from my name down to "Have you ever been jailed..." kinda questions. Also asked my job in the Philippines, history of travel, how we met, and my new job here. Told me she's approving my application and the card will be mailed in 2-4weeks. 
 
Goodluck guys. :) 
 

I remember getting really stuck on this part of my husbands submission packet as well because as a K1 filer the original records are sent with the K1 packet and will eventually meet up with AOS packet. I was searching everywhere for my husbands records from his medical.
 
It turns he only kept one sheet from the medical (which had his vaccinations on it because I told him to ask for an extra copy) but the rest of the originals were at immigration.
 
Hopefully you also can track down your vaccination records If you don't they will likely just do titers to ensure you have had the vaccinations in the past and just make sure you keep a copy for yourself after the appointment, if you dont find the records before than  

Many thanks for the info! I will need to see if I brought the original vaccine records over with me - I didn't think I'd need them after they were all initially checked through for the first immigration medical. I thought that new form would be sufficient going forward, but perhaps not - a lesson on always bringing everything with you! Thanks again.

We actually didn't have to go through that process. She ended up getting approved and getting her physical green card before she left the country, so she never used the AP. She actually never received the AP since she got her Green Card pretty quick after applying. She just used her green card for her travel and had no problems. 

Today, Saturday went for interview for AOS. The office requested a new medical exam since mine was expired on March. 
First he asked if we have the medical exam, and we told him we already submitted one with the petition. He said that one was expired. 
I showed him the letter we received stating that to bring the I-693 report unless it was previously submitted. He said still, I need new medical exam and mail it to his attention. 
I will do this on Monday and have it mailed in the sealed envelope give by the Civil Surgeon. 
 
I wish they make it clear to petitioners or mail them a letter asking them to bring a new medical exam to the interview, cause we could have dont this and had it with us and finished. ''
 
My message to anyone, if your medical expired or about to expire be sure you take another one. 

Hi. No, I have no updates on either. Haven't heard from my AOS since April 2017, and know nothing of my EAD/AP renewal since March 2018.

The 180-day extension applies only to EAD, so you can't travel until they send you the new combo card. As someone else said, it feels like they're holding us hostage.

It's so frustrating when so many people that applied after you got their GC almost a year ago, and you're still waiting with zero news on your case. I am SO depressed I don't even want to think about the whole immigration thing at all, because every time I do I just feel awful. 

Good luck to everyone. 

 

Unfortunately the automatic extension does not apply to AP.
I filed for AOS on May 2017 and still nothing regarding the GC and now when trying to extend EAD/AP it takes them more than 5 months and nothing on that either so I can't leave.
Literally holding us hostage in the US.

Just to update this thread - I was approved without an RFE for another medical. They must have found it. Thanks for all your help!

Hey there. I got my combo card probably June and only got my greencard last week. There was about a 8 months gab. 

Yes. Received mine a month ago. 

Forgot to answer this.  For the IRS, no registering. If you have employees you pay to do work, then you would have to get an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS. But it doesn't sound like you are going to do much more than some free lance work and get paid. So no EIN unless you will have employees.
 
For your state, you may have to charge sales tax to your clients for your services. You're going to have to look on Georgia state webpages and research. Each state will be different. I can explain what I do in Texas to help you see what you need to learn about Georgia laws. I have a taxpayer number for the state of Texas. My clients are local. I add state sales tax to my invoices. (Services may or may not be taxable in GA.) then I remit the sales tax I collected to the State Comptroller. It's all online.  I think I did quarterly at first, but got a letter saying it wasn't much so once a year was enough since I paid on time. If you do subcontractor work for another company who bills the clients, then he charges and collects the sales tax. That's my situation and why the sales tax I have to collect is pretty small because it's only for some side jobs where I invoice a customer directly. And collect the sales tax. 

Your extra tax forms for self employment are Schedule C and Schedule SE.
 
About quarterly estimates-- which really applies going forward for you. 2017 wasn't enough income to worry about it. 
Nobody is holding tax money out of each paycheck and sending to the IRS. You won't really know your income for 2018 for sure or how much you might can offset it with business expenses. At the end of the year you will know for sure and figure your tax owed. But the IRS doesn't want you to pay all at the end. They want money trickling in all year. Thus estimated payments, where you send in some tax money by specified dates. There is no right or wrong and you have to come up with the amount on your own. Kinda hard really. If you send too much, it does come back as a refund. And if you underestimate, you'll maybe owe some additional at tax filing time.
 
Also, when filing a joint return it's the total paid in by both people that counts. So maybe your spouse has extra held out of his/her paycheck. If you were short in estimating, his overpayment would cover yours. They look at joint returns as one pot of income and one pot tax . Your goal is to come out close to even where you (plural) paid in enough to cover the joint tax bill. There's liberal variances allowed. You will never be spot on.
 

Many thanks – I had no idea the EAD was the I-766. Good to know!

Your EAD is technically known as an I-766 (the same way your green card is technically an I-551). An EAD based on a pending I-485 has the eligibility code C-9, therefore you have satisfied "I-766 with Category Codes: C09, C10, C18, & A11"
 
Flip your EAD over and in the corner you will see "I-766".

You are correct usually there is nothing
Every state is so different and even within states it depends which DMV you go to
In my experience (illinois) I was given a drivers only up to the expiration of my i94 as they need an expiry date when your aos is pending
They told me to come back when I have an ead and they will extend it to the ead expiry and so on
 
In others experiences they automatically got a 3 or 4 etc yr license without anything other than their i94
 
In others experiences they needed their green card
 
My suggestion is bring everything you have and see what happens 

Hi all,
 
I came to the US on a K-1, married my spouse, going through AOS and have recently obtained my EAD/AP. 
 
I thought I read before that EAD was enough to apply for a driver's license in GA, but I can't find where I got that information. 
 
On the GA dept of driver services website, you can go through a 'custom checklist' to figure out what docs you need to bring. This is what is given as the options for a non-citizen:
 
Unexpired Foreign Passport with valid U.S. Visa (Immigration Status A, B, E, H, I, L, O, P, Q, R, or S) Unexpired Foreign Passport with valid U.S. Visa (Immigration Status F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, M-1 or M-2) I-94 with Asylee or Refugee Status/Stamp I-766 with Category Code: C08 I-766 with Temporary Protection Status I-766 without Temporary Protection Status I-766 with Category Codes: C09, C10, C18, & A11 I-551 or I-551 Stamp with photo on I-94 form I-551 Stamp Visa Waiver Stamp  
Am I missing something, or am I right in thinking that there nothing here that refers to K1 holders or those with EADs? 
 
If anyone has been through this and can shed some light on the situation, I'd be very grateful!

The guy had to check with his supervisor because he personally hadn't seen one before, but it was a quick check and we were good to go! 

We got back on the 29th of December!
 
Overall the experience wasn't too terrible. The airport staff was horrendous, but the CBP were actually very nice and helpful.
 
We flew into Detroit, for what it's worth.
 
The airport staff put us in the wrong line, I think, but after waiting 1.5+ hours, the CBP didn't ask for anything else, really. 
They asked my husband if he was working and he said yes, driving for Waitr (like UberEats) but that he had finally finished signing up to be a substitute teacher. The CBP guy lit up and asked what subjects he was interested in teaching and was really nice after that. He didn't ask for any paperwork to verify that my husband was working, but we did offer to show him.
 
After that they sent us into a room used for people who were going into secondary questioning because we had to use a special stamp. We were only in there for ~15 minutes, they didn't ask us any further questions-- just stamped my husband's passport and we left!
 
Overall it was pretty standard, but it was nerve-wracking lol. We're planning on visiting for another week in May and will hopefully be flying direct in/out of Houston so hoping it will be a bit smoother this time.
We were NOT able to check-in online, though!!! 

Most POEs have CBP officers at the beginning of the lines to help direct people to the right place, so I would advise asking them letting them know your situation.  My wife never used an AP, but she has come back a couple of times with an ROC extension letter and on her first re-entry they directed her to the proper line.  I would think that since you are not an LPR yet, you would have to go to the visitor line.
 
Good Luck and Safe Travels!

Thanks, Cawain. Did you get separate notifications for 'Card in production' and 'Card has been mailed'? I only ask because I've heard sometimes it gets stuck at the 'card in production' phase for 30 days...
 
I forgot that the 10th was a holiday, so technically it's only been a couple of working days since getting the initial update. That makes me feel better!
 

I would just sit back and relax....you are WAY ahead than many of us here...you card will arrive most likely some time thins month.  

Hi all,
 
I finally got a case update last week (November 8th) - the AP/EAD applications were approved!
 
On November 8, 2017, we approved your Form I-131, Application For USCIS Travel Document, Receipt Number MSCxxxxxxx. We will mail your approval notice. 
 
However, since then nothing has changed, no 'card in production', no 'card has been mailed' etc. Anyone also been through this and knows how long it takes for the status to update again?
 
Many thanks - just looking for some reassurance or advice if I need to chase this up.

@Rose_3001 - When you request to expedite, it gets assigned to an officer to get back to you within 5 days. 
They apparently send you an email, stating where to fax and which "team" to address it to. (Mine never made it to me, lol) 
So they'll want a copy of the email they sent (It contains the Team Name / Number and Fax number etc) , and a copy of your offer letter.
 
I submit my expedite before the 90 day period. 
 
Hope that helps