mercy

Cass, while you are waiting, why not download all the AOS forms and practice filling them out, that way when it comes time to get them ready, you'll just need to transfer the information, or just add in the missing stuff you'll get at the POE. We spent a couple of hours after I got there, putting the package together, and after we got married (got a copy of the certificate right away), we sent it out that day.

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When I was getting my biometrics done, I asked if the photos taken will be used for the work permit and AOS, and when I asked why I had to send all those pictures with the application she wondered out loud why they hadn't changed that requirement yet. So, who knows. I'd get the pictures ready just in case.

Hope you don't mind my input here..I don't know how much a titre test would cost in the US, but it might be cheaper than getting all of the vaccinations done again.

We did our vaccinations at public health for $10 a piece and the civil surgeon was free of charge in terms of signing off on the vaccination supplement. In our case, since the Moscow clinic refused to do vaccinations when we asked, and translating / certifying Russian records and / or paying for the titre test seemed mighty expensive, redoing the vaccinations turned out to be a cheaper and faster option.

Well there you go Mine was free in Canada, so I really had no idea what it might be here.

Hope you don't mind my input here..I don't know how much a titre test would cost in the US, but it might be cheaper than getting all of the vaccinations done again. I had one done for my K1 medical since my doctor's office couldn't find my vac records(how reassuring!), but being Canadian I'm not sure how much medical things like that cost in the US.

We pretty much had to beg, borrow, and scrape together the cost of AOS/EAD/AP, so I hear you on the poor planning part. Get out the vaseline indeed, it never stops with USCIS. Best of luck!

name....................visa type...........NOA1.............DO..........RFE accepted?......interview date

rebeccajo..................K1..............11/16/05......Pittsburgh........................................3/9/06

xjennyinstereox.......none...............9/28...........Baltimore.............10/11...................1/10

Rozytc........................K1................10/17...........San Jose............................................1/10

Senka.........................K1...............11/09..........Santa Ana.............12/12....................2/07

Shakil.........................K3................12/01.........Santa Ana............................................2/13

laptop..........................K1...............12/01...........San Fran

mychelle......................K1...............12/06.........Los Angeles

devilette.......................K1...............12/07..........Cincinnati.............1/03

shusterman................K1...............12/07.............Boston

mercy..........................K1...............12/08..........Milwaukee.............1/09?

TracyLuis.....................K3..............12/11.........San Antonio

brightside.....................F1..............12/26.........Columbus

Not sure if they accepted my RFE yet, according to USPS it got to the PO box on Saturday, so I'm now impatiently waiting to hear something from them.

Thanks for doing this

No transfer for me and while I honestly don't expect one, I'm certainly hoping. I'm adjusting from a K1 and my NOA1's are from December 8th.

What website do you use to check status?

https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/login.jsp ?

Yup, that's the one.

I can't speak for Montreal, but in Vancouver they did not keep the evidence I brought. The officer interviewing me asked to see some of it during the interview, looked at it, and gave it back right away.

If Green-eyed girl considers herself Palestinian, who is anyone here to contradict that? Who here knows her family history, what ties they keep with Palestine, how often they visit, if they still have family there, etc. I'm willing to be no one.

I'm of mixed European descent, like many North Americans, but I consider myself solely Canadian. I actually get sort of annoyed when people ask me where I'm from/what I am. That's just me though, doesn't mean everyone has to do it. For my family, we don't maintain any kind of ties with our European heritage, we don't even know if we have any family over there, so it wouldn't really make sense to say "I'm German" or whatever. I grew up in a small town that is almost predominantly Portuguese. The kids I went to school with were mostly 1st and 2nd generation Canadians, but all of them considered themselves Portuguese first, even though none of them had ever been there. If a family immigrates, but holds close the ties to the country they left, it's easy to see how even generations later could consider themselves to be from that country. Particularly if they were forced out of said country.

If my husband and I stay in the US and have children here, by right of my citizenship they will also be Canadian citizens. They will be able to have a Canadian passport, and even if they never live there, I would hope they hold Canada close to them. The same would go for if we moved to Canada, they would be US citizens by right of my husband being a USC. No matter what, our kids will be citizens of both countries and will be raised to think of themselves that way.

Just as the others said, but also, no need for USC's birth certificate either. Are you applying for EAD/AP, cause you can mail it all in one envelope. Other than that it looks good. I just used regular old paperclips, so I'm no help there.

WAIT yes, you do need the USC's birth certificate if you are using them as your sponsor on your I-864 (which, if you're filing for AOS based on marriage to them, then you are). You have to include proof of their citizenship, which in most cases people use their birth certificate but their passport/naturalization document (if they weren't born in the USA) is good too. You can find a list of what to include in the I-864. Just be sure you don't forget proof of their citizenship, we did for my cosponsor and got an RFE for it.

Nope, only joint sponsors need to submit proof that they are a USC. From the form: "Proof of U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident status is required for joint and substitute sponsors and for relatives of employment-based immigrants who file this form."

There are several posts about this floating around in this forum. It can take several days or even a week or two for your case to be available online, even after you've received your NOA1. Calling the 800 number won't help, they can't do anything about anything basically. Just keep checking, it'll work eventually

Grr. I had no idea that waiting for the interview would be the worst part of this whole process. At least while I was waiting for my NOA2 I could logon ever day (minute) and check if I'd been touched. Now I feel like I'm dead in the water. All the forms and evidence is lined up in a nice stack on my desk. All of our travel plans to Vancouver are booked and confirmed.

Now it's just waiting...and waiting some more. Grumble. It just give me more time to sit here and analyze all of the far-fetched reasons why we could get denied.

Alright. < / complaining >

Cass (bebop the great)

The next couple weeks will fly by, I promise! I remember when I got my interview date, it was like a month before the interview and I thought the day would never get there, and then it seemed like all of a sudden I was in Vancouver. When are you leaving for Vancouver?

Whatever one she wants to use. Just make sure to put the others in the "Other names used" section.

Just as the others said, but also, no need for USC's birth certificate either. Are you applying for EAD/AP, cause you can mail it all in one envelope. Other than that it looks good. I just used regular old paperclips, so I'm no help there.

I'm sorry to hear about how you were treated, that is completely unacceptable, I would take rebeccajo advice and contact someone about it. When I was having my biometrics done(in the Milwaukee office), I saw them treating many people rudely, I was absolutely appalled. Hopefully this is not standard practice for these offices.

Mercy,

did you have any problems getting your SSN? My husband didn't but when I went on the AOS forum, I am hearing some people saying that they never got their card and then their !-94 expired and now they have to wait unitl their EAD... We heard we will get the card so I am hoping that won't be a problem..... also, what status did you put in on 765? and what should I use for the question 16 part? A6 or A9? thanks for your help.....

smallcan999

Congrats on getting married!!

You can send the EAD application with the AOS all in one envelope, I think you are supposed to actually. I put all 3 applications in the same envelope and added a cover letter listing all the documents included. For the I-765 I put my status as K-1 and for question 16 I put C9. I actually just used the example forms on this site when filling out all the AOS stuff, otherwise I'd have had no idea what to put either

Luckily I had no problem getting my SSN, I even got it in my new married name. It took a couple of weeks to arrive in the mail, but going in and applying for it was probably the quickest and easiest thing I've done in this process so far.

-April

The check was in my husband's name, and they cashed it. I don't think they care who is giving them the money so long as they get it.

Make sure to include your fiance's address just in case they have it wrong/to confirm it.

I agree about the case number as subject line, I think they are more apt to respond to you that way.

I remember on my letter it said I could also go in and get my biometrics done any Wednesday up until a certain date (sometime in October) I also remember when I went in for mine someone ahead of me was in a situation similar to yours (they missed their appointment) and they let them in. It's worth going to your local office and giving it a shot.

Our letter said the same thing. Any Wednesday after for like 3 months.

Yup mine too, any Wednesday at the same time (10am) for about three months.

Congrats Eli! Wonderful news!

Finally got our NOA's today - and the help desk person told me it would be at least a MONTH before I could track anything online!!! SHEESH!!!!!

So much for government effeciency!

~Liza

It probably won't take that long, took mine a day or two before it appeared online.

Customs should attach the I-94 to his passport, you'll need it for filing AOS. That's all I got when I crossed. I don't know if K3's get medicals, but if they do and he didn't get a copy of the vaccination supplement, he can always ask them to make one for him.

Entering the US is really simple, you just tell the custom agents that you are activating a visa and make sure to have the envelope that the consulate gives you, and they take care of the rest. I had to pay $6 for my I-94.

devilette and mercy-

I hope you don't mind that I added you both to my friends list. We basically have the same timeline although I'm adjusting from a different visa type. Anyway, I wanted to ask the both of you, what kind of RFEs did you get? I'm just curious and slightly paranoid.

Thanks!

Good idea, I did the same

My RFE was the I-864 one as well. Basically they wanted W-2's, tax returns (they said recent year, but we did past 3, as we did originally), and proof of employment. We sent all of that for the sponsor, so I think maybe what they wanted was proof of self-employment from the joint sponsor, which I don't think was included before. But we sent everything for both sponsor and joint sponsor all over again. Sort of annoying to resend stuff we already sent, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I think I understand know. My initial reaction to what was written was that I couldn't receive the EAD (not the interim one) until after 90 days had passed, so as long as that's not the case, I'm a happy girl.

devilette, I've been watching your signature timeline lately, ours are pretty similar.

Since by all accounts they are no longer issuing interim EADs, this is something of a moot point. But yes, theoretically it meant that the 90-day processing period after which you could apply for an interim EAD was either suspended or reset, depending on your local office.

Can you explain what you mean by interim EAD? Is this something different than the EAD that is applied for in conjunction with AOS?