NorthByNorthwest

I seriously would not rely on a LLM AI for any sort of factual information - if you give them paranoid prompts you may well get paranoid answers... As others have stated, you're completely overthinking this. Your history of responsible visa use without overstays carries a lot of weight.

Looking back I had a grand total of 44 pages, 20 of which were tax return transcripts, the rest were joint apartment contracts, insurance, joint property deed, property tax statements and some random utility bills that were in either one of our names. No photos, no affidavits.

Any time I traveled back to the US on GC I routinely handed over Swedish passport and GC when checking in. Most of that time I had NEXUS so the experience coming back from Canada was a bit smoother through preclearance, but airlines always wanted passport and GC regardless. Coming by land into the US CBP typically wanted to see NEXUS and GC together (I just scanned both cards driving through).

Back when I had pending I-751 and doing regular land crossings into Canada I simply took my extension letter to the local enrollment center to update the GC expiration date and updated both systems (this was for Nexus so for every change US and Canadian systems need to be updated separately), Global Entry is less complicated. As long as the Global Entry/Nexus card itself isn't expired the other entitlements can be updated. Now, coming back into the US I typically had to show both Nexus and GC (with extension letter) anyway since Nexus alone isn't proof of of lawful status when you're not US/Canadian citizen. I don't recall if I did any airport entry during this time though - worst case you'll just get flagged and have to show extension letter to an officer.

Nobody is saying you will or will not get an interview waiver, that process can differ slightly by country and the DS-160 application system will typically tell you if you qualify based on your answers as you put in the application. For Bahrain these appear to be the basic requirements: (from ustraveldocs.com) The applicant and everyone applying with him/her is a citizen or resident of Bahrain. The applicant is currently present in Bahrain. The applicant and everyone applying with him/her, have a previous visa in the same category (except children under 14). The applicant IS applying to renew a B1/B2 visa that has not been expired for more than 48 months. The applicant and everyone applying with him/her have a prior 5-year (or full-validity for your nationality), B1/B2 US visa. The applicant most recent visa issued after June 27, 2007. The applicant and everyone applying with him/her do not have any US visa refusals after the expiration of an issued B1/B2 visa. The applicant visa, and the visa of everyone applying with him/her, still valid or has expired within the past 48 months.

It is not relevant who pays for your trip, B1/B2 is purely based on how strong your ties are to your home country/country of residence. Unless you lived in Bahrain the last time you applied for a visa chances are you will need an interview based on your current circumstances. I'm sure it's a positive that you've had visas in the past and have a history of properly returning from those trips, but anything beyond that is speculation.

Adding to what others have said - from the perspective of someone living 20 minutes from the western crossings into Canada I'd mainly be concerned about traffic. Traffic varies greatly by time of day and day of the week. If you arrive (by car) at the wrong time it could be 1-2 hours wait before making it to the actual inspection booths and entering on an immigrant visa you WILL be sent to secondary inspection. During high traffic, there can be a significant line in secondary too and that can easily take at least another hour. If entering from Canada / Vancouver area there are 4 different crossings to choose from (Peace Arch/I-5, Blaine/SR-543, Lynden/Aldergrove, Sumas/Abbottsford), the last two are almost always faster during times of heavy traffic. Other than that I wouldn't worry - if all paperwork is in order (which it should be or the visa wouldn't be issued in the first place) the actual entry should be a mere formality.

This. If the brother has chronic health problems it will be much, much cheaper for him to remain in Italy given their excellent health care system. Anyway that's not really a concern for many years since as all others have pointed out there's a 15+ year wait. There's no harm in putting in a petition ASAP, other than the application fee. OP's husband could have done that the second he became a citizen and then the brother would already be 3-4 years into the queue.

Makes sense for SSA to use SAVE to verify your K-1 status - these days I think it's faster than 2 weeks in most cases but unless you're in a rush that should be a safe period to wait. Worst case the SSN application will take a bit longer.

Cancel the trip or if you live anywhere close to a Passport Agency you can get an appointment for urgent travel once you are within 2 weeks of departure. Assuming the agency has slots available you'll have the passport within a day or two. I did this earlier this year and had my US passport in hand 3 days after taking the oath. You'll just need to show proof of travel when you're at the agency - flight/hotel bookings etc.

I would question your assumption that it is easier to get a US visa than a Danish visa, at least if you're planning to marry anyway. Once you are married the Danish family reunification visa for a spouse will almost certainly be faster than the K1 / CR-1 process, and probably less complicated overall since you will be in an environment where you are already established with stable income, housing etc.

Not sure if you really meant SAVE - that's only used by federal agencies to verify entitlements to benefits or immigration status, as a K-1 proof of immigration status is passport at first and I-797 for the AOS once you file it after the wedding. SAVE was never used by anyone I dealt with but perhaps that happened behind the scenes. The initial SS card will say it's not valid for employment without authorization and once she has her EAD approved companies can use E-Verify to make sure she can work but that's 9+ months out after you file.

It might be counterintuitive but it is correct and many countries have similar arrangements. For example citizens from certain countries need transit visas to even pass through Europe (Schengen area) even if they do not leave the airport, but if these people have a valid US visa, they are exempt from needing a Schengen transit visa. It is well-established that the US screens visa applicants thoroughly to establish sufficiently strong ties to their home countries - even if a US visa has nothing formally to do with travel to other countries, these other countries save time and resources by recognizing people with approved US visas as lower risk and not having to do the basic vetting.

Yeah, looks like they've firmed up the language on at least some embassy/consulate pages. A friend with expired GC+extension had no issues last year, but from other reports it does seem to be hit or miss. I'd probably scrap the trip if I were you if I couldn't get a visa in time, too much hassle if they don't let you in.

First part is incorrect, travelers of any nationality are exempt from needing a Mexican visa if they have a valid US visa, so assuming OPs parents have a valid B1/B2 visa for visiting her in the US they can enter Mexico without visa. The other part is correct, OP should be fine with expired GC+I-797 extension.

According to this https://www.cbp.gov/travel/biometrics CBP are now doing exit controls at 46 airports, the linked page shows which ones: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/biometrics/airports There's no need for ID, a picture is all that's needed to match your face to existing records such as USCIS biometrics or passport pictures. If you are a US citizen the pictures get discarded as soon as a match has been made, if not they get saved for up to 15 years.

I provided some numbers in another recent thread about an elderly couple, see below in italics. You can basically cut the numbers in half for a single person. The cost for the first 5 years will vary greatly by state and age, but this gives you an idea. For example, if your mother is 70 and has any ongoing health issues you could easily be paying $30,000 / year out of pocket for the first 5 years before insurance pays anything. If older than 65 they will be able to buy into Medicare after being legally present in the US for 5 years, at that point they become eligible to sign up for Medicare for the full premium. This is currently $506/month/person for Medicare Part A and $165/month/person for Part B. They would both need to sign up as soon as they become eligible, or there would be additional monthly penalties if they ever want to sign up later. In most states they will not be eligible for Medicaid until being present for 5 years either, and even then probably not if they are part of your household since your income will likely be too high. In summary, after 5 years you'll have to pay at least $1,500/month for basic Medicare for the two of them, and that's before any copays and deductibles. During the first 5 years you would have to buy private insurance that will likely cost at least $3-4,000/month for the two of them with sizable deductibles.

I did the passport right away at passport agency since I had urgent travel coming up. For that I got the original naturalization certificate returned together with the new passport (and passport card) the next day. I waited a week or two to update the SSN since someone suggested it could take a few days for their systems to see the new status. In addition to the above, if you have Global Entry/NEXUS you can head to a nearby enrollment office (no appointment needed) and show passport and naturalization certificate for them to input the new information, you can then request a replacement card online that shows your new citizenship status.

Ah, I'm not quite familiar with how that affects things? I just had a quick look at healthcare.gov for OP's Ohio for a 70-year old couple and the plans ranged from $1,500/month to $4,200/month where the "cheapest" plan has an $18,000 deductible. With any significant health issues OP would spend $36,000 / year before the insurance even starts to pay out...

Most marketplaces don't even show premiums for people 65+ since they are assumed to have Medicare, it gets _very_ expensive with rising age...

Not entirely true since they will be able to buy into Medicare after being legally present in the US for 5 years, at that point they become eligible to sign up for Medicare for the full premium. This is currently $506/month/person for Medicare Part A and $165/month/person for Part B. They would both need to sign up as soon as they become eligible, or there would be additional monthly penalties if they ever want to sign up later. In most states they will not be eligible for Medicaid until being present for 5 years either, and even then probably not if they are part of your household since your income will likely be too high. In summary, after 5 years you'll have to pay at least $1,500/month for basic Medicare for the two of them, and that's before any copays and deductibles. During the first 5 years you would have to buy private insurance that will likely cost at least $3-4,000/month for the two of them, also before copays and deductibles.

I also applied under the 5 year rule even though I came on K-1 (3-year mark happened in the middle of COVID so I was in no rush for any interview). The only thing I uploaded was front and back of 10-year GC and marriage certificate, no need to include anything they don't ask for.

Interesting thread, I did same-day oath and it never even occurred to me to wear something other than my everyday clothes, which in February was jeans and a warm sweater. "You'll be in front of a judge" - not even close in my case, a regular USCIS employee getting through the last oath ceremony of the day. There were perhaps 50 new citizens in my session and 10-20 family members, I think I spotted one or two suits. I reckon the mood would be a bit more festive in the larger dedicated oath ceremonies though. Like some folks in this thread I brought old conditional GC and EAD, but they told me to keep those, so I guess YMMV.

Hopefully you are fully mentally prepared for no work and no travel for 7-8 months once you get to the US. I was in that exact position when I moved, and back in 2017 it was "only" 4 months wait for EAD/AP - I was still climbing the walls. I transfered within the company and had my work all ready to go as soon as I got the EAD, but it was still pure agony, especially since I went from multiple international trips/month to nothing at all while I was waiting. At least I took up yoga for a few months... Best of luck!

The only time I've seen this in actual use has been with people from China and Taiwan that may have both a Chinese and an English name - in those cases they can get an AKA note stamped/written on one of the passport pages. I have not seen this with US passports, AFAIK people in that situation typically pick one of the names and stick with that on all official documentation.