Ermin&Zijada

received: 12/24

check cashed: 01/28 

Just glad to finally know it arrived and is in the right hands. 

Hi Everyone, 

Our window opened November 20, but we did not submit until December 24th. Fedex says the packaged arrived, but like most, the check has not been cashed. I was freaking out, but reading this thread I see it is normal. 

What happens if the NOA1 is not received before the GC expires? Are you out of status? 

3 minutes ago, Teemo said:

Well, we could do a lot of things because of isolated incidents. We could never take an Uber because an Uber driver killed a passenger one time. But it's not so rational to do so. Matter of Arabally is settled case law, unless it gets withdrawn which would be all over the forums.  It has been in effect for years. I researched this so much and got very comfortable with it. It's not a loophole or a mistake or something temporary. If you leave and use AP to return, you have not "departed" the US and are not triggering the bar. I used it 7x and my long overstay never came up. Sounds like you were scared of not getting in because of some security issue. I understand it's scary. It was scary for me too, which is why I spent so much time researching it. There is no upcoming travel ban that would happen with 1 day notice. Trump learned his lesson there within 48 hours. He couldn't do it again even if he wanted to. It's not rational to use this as your argument. The only rational argument against it is "I can absolutely do it, but it's scary and not worth the stress and mental toll." That resonates. But hopefully my experience doing it 7 times can give others some comfort. 

I understand that and I get that in most cases nothing would go wrong but we personally did not want to risk it. I am currently in the process of becoming an immigration lawyer and interned at an immigration firm over the summer. You would be surprised by how many routine things take a turn for no good reason at all. Even court procedures that have been in place for decades have changed seemingly over night. 

3 minutes ago, Teemo said:

Dumb. AP is AP. Yes if you go to Iraq or Syria you might have a problem. But that is because of reasons other than the AP, it's because you might present a security risk. I went to a Muslim majority country for 11 days using AP. One of the 7 times I used AP. All were routine to get back in, perhaps on this visit I got one more question "Why did you go to this country."

 

Are you still using this one incredibly isolated incident (an illegal and confusing travel ban that got reversed 48 hours later) to scare everyone out of using AP?

In fact I am. Considering the political climate towards immigrants is still very much unstable. We waited for the Green Card before traveling and would recommend doing so to all others. Glad it worked out for you Mr. Snarky!

3 minutes ago, Bianca89 said:

Maybe you can tell us a little about your interview? What did they ask? What proof did you bring etc

Honestly our interview was rough. The woman was very serious and meant business. She did not ask anything about our relationship. I had handed her some proof (vet bills, concert tickets,etc.) She asked my husband what our dogs name is which he of course knew. And she asked when did we go to ny (for the concert) but he did not have that date memorized nor did she specify which ny trip she meant since we had been twice. I had attempted to answer for him, but she strictly told me not to tell him answers and I apologized and explained that we had been multiple times and that he did not know which time she was referring to. She then asked basic questions like where I was born and the date of my birthday. She told us at the end we were approved. I would reccommend knowing the information about all the documents you are bringing. 

On 6/27/2018 at 11:36 AM, KeratNY said:

I think that people are perceiving "an immigration unfriendly" environment and erroneously applying it to their own situation. I think in each situation people need to balance out the upside of an international trip with the assessed risk. The upside is usually immediately apparent to each person. Believe me my next trip is highly important to my wife and I and it would be a massive pain to us to wait another 8+ months for it.

 

The risk of re-entry is not immediately apparent. There are no denial statistics for this, so I think it makes sense that people try to assess if using advance parole is a 1% risk, a 10% risk, a 25% risk, and so forth, to make the right decision.  People can be "worried"  or "afraid" to go, but after asking these types of questions and if they assess the risk as very low (which I have done but others have not), the upside of the travel is still worth it. I have assessed the risk as 1%-5% which is still too high for my comfort but balanced against the joy and benefits of the trip I believe the ratio makes sense for me to go. 

 

I agree that the first travel ban was the only situation in recent and not-so-recent history where green card holders were (temporarily) being denied, and that was a fiasco that was quickly rectified. So @Ermin&Zijadapointing to that as a relevant example as something that could happen to AP is completely illegitimate. That was very very clearly a one time thing that was a mistake the Trump administration learned.  But they have assessed the risk as too high compared to the upside they would get. 

 

So the choices are indeed "simple."  But it is not an easy choice and I think people here are doing their background research to assess the risk. 

Tell that to the people who were held up at airports for hours upon hours. Im sure to them it wasn't "completely illegitimate". I also think its quite a different story for someone to weight the dangers of visiting Canada and lets say a muslim majority country.  

On 3/22/2019 at 8:12 PM, AffableAndy said:

I'm going to have my interview at Norfolk, though probably not very soon. I just wanted to ask about how far in advance you got a notice for your interview, and if there was any trouble with finding a doctor in the area. I'm also wondering what the medical exam cost - I'd be happy to discuss it over PM if that's more comfortable. Thanks!

 

All the best for those with upcoming interviews.

Hi, we had our interview last month. We got the notice about 5 weeks before the interview date. We are from Richmond and had plenty of options to choose from in terms of doctors. The medical exam was between 200-300 dollars (cannot remember exactly). 

4 hours ago, accumbyte said:

Who said that? See "K or V Nonimmigrants Applying for Adjustment" section: https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume8-PartB-Chapter3.html

We were told this by the officer at our infopass appointment and also by our lawyer. 

Just an update on us. We received the letter that our interview is scheduled for February 20th! 

We were told because it has been over a year since we filed for aos that my husband will need a new medical. Is that not the case? Also, what form should we bring for the doctor to fill out at the medical? 

23 hours ago, FLboy123 said:

Hi there-

Any Miami FL filers out there with interviews recently scheduled? Or know anyone who has been scheduled recently?

 

I am curious to know what month they are currently scheduling now.

 

I am thinking of doing an infopass in March when I hit 1.5 years. Has anyone tried it? Did it work?

Not a miami filer, but we did an infopass appt when we hit 15 months and a week later our status changed to “interview scheduled” it really cannot hurt to try. 

6 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

No to an updated I864....

BUT if your husband and your income meets the FPGLs for your household and you do not wish to have to use your Dad as a joint sponsor, you can redo the I864 in your name and your husband's name with your joint income with supporting evidence then you can submit that and your dad won't have to be financially obligated.

Thank you! My dad does not mind having the obligation so we will most likely keep the paperwork as is. Will any of my fathers information be needed at the interview? Like updated taxes? I read your sponsor should have a letter from his employer but my dad is his own employer so I dont see how that would work. 

Hello, 

Our case status finally changed to “interview scheduled” after 15 months of waiting! 

Regarding the aos interview...will we need to have co-sponsor information? My dad was our co-sponsor for k1 and the original aos application so will we need to bring an updated affidavit of support since its been over a year? Also, my husband works now, but is his income even relevant since he is the immigrant? 

For our initial 129F application I sent our entire skype log as proof of communication. Then for the interview I screenshotted a part of our conversation for every month of our relationship. It may have been overkill, but I felt better knowing my fiance had that with him and the interviewer did look through it. 

We have been waiting for an interview since September 2017. We were told at our infopass appointment yesterday that someone must have "dropped the ball" and forgot to schedule it. Hopefully we will hear something soon. 

Hi all, 

So we filed for my husband's AOS in September of 2017 and then received an RFIE in October. Our status on the site has been stuck on "Response to RFEI received" since Oct 2017. I had tried reaching out to a congressman and doing an SR myself, but really we did not get any info until we attended an Infopass appointment the other day. We were told his application was ready for an interview since June of 2018 and that someone "dropped the ball" by not scheduling it. The officer kindly told us it was very unusual for a case to go on for 15 months prior to an interview at that service center. He told us he would email his supervisor to get the interview scheduled. What are the odds we hear something in the next month or so? Has anyone had a similar experience? 

Our status still reads “response to rfe received in October 2017.” We reached out to the senator who was able to find out that we are technically in line for an interview. Is anyone else still waiting for an interview at Norfolk? Or had an interview there recently? 

Our close family friends who applied a few months after us (at the same office) had their interview months ago so it is very agitating that we are still waiting. 

We are also curious about if we will need to bring a translator to the interview or if I can translate for me husband? Ive heard differimg answers. 

1 hour ago, Queen30 said:

Questions Guys ! 

For those of who to re submitted a EAD Renewal, did you guys send in your EAD Cards or just a Photocopy version of it ? 

 

Thank You ! 

We just sent in photocopies. Received our noa1 the other day. 

4 hours ago, Jojo92122 said:

You are the one that needs to apologize to Boiler. 

Disagree, but thanks for your input! 

32 minutes ago, Jojo92122 said:

You may want to read up on maintaining LPR status.

 

Immigrants choosing to travel outside the US should be careful of their time outside the US to maintain their status.  Their LPR status can be abandoned for spending too much time outside the US.

 

A US citizen can be abroad forever and have zero problem coming back to the US.

 

An apology is in order.

Yeah I agree the first person who replied to OP should apologize since their response was both rude and unhelpful. 

19 minutes ago, Roel said:

It's public forum. People here share their opinions and that's their right. Welcome to the internet.

No to mention it's a very good point.

You only consider it a “good point” because its an immigrant choosing to travel outside the US for longer than a few weeks. But when a usc takes a 6 month vacation to “explore europe” its considered a cultural experience and even envied. 

18 minutes ago, Boiler said:

That seems a very long holiday.

 

PR = Permanent Resident

 

6 months suggests otherwise.

I must have missed where OP asked for your opinion on the length of their visits. 

On 7/1/2018 at 9:26 AM, Alabamak1 said:

I wouldn't rely on the USCIS online server updating anything. Where are you on the process? K-1 or AOS? I am after biometrics in AOS process and my online process shows....received paperwork for I-129F, never been updated.

 

I would wait for the email from USCIS or a physical letter, whichever comes first

10 hours ago, Habibati & Habibi said:

you receiving this notification because of your account setting.

if you go to account setting, scroll down you will see case inactivity on or off, basically you must set it on that is what you are receiving update that NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN ON YOUR CASE SINCE TWO WEEKS. if you want to dis-activate it just set it off and you will no longer receive mails or sms that your case in inactive since XX time

have a good luck

We are about 8 or 9 months into AOS depending if you count from the receive date of the original application or the receipt date of the RFIE. 

I knew you could choose to change the settings, but I am confused why I am just now receiving these updates. Our case has been “inactive” since October. 

I recently received my first case inactivity notification just days after I filed a service request. Do you think these two instances are related?

The notification stated that they last took action on my case on June 14, but the online tracker is still showing a status from October. How can I find out what that last action was? We have not received anything in the mail.