soprano82

3 hours ago, K1visaHopeful said:

There is plenty of evidence on VJ regarding the K1 policy of not having to submit an I693 if you filed for AOS within one year of your overseas medical date.

You can search "K1 I693". If you add my user name to that you will see my numerous explanations.

You can also Google "USCIS Policy Manual" and look up the Admissability Volume and and it states it in there also.

You can also look on the I693 instructions and it will state the K1 policy.

Plenty of resources stating that a K1 wont likely need one.

 

Generally the previously submitted I864 will suffice provided your financial situation did not change for the worse. If you're worried simply prepare a new one with your current info. Worry over.

@K1visaHopeful

Thank you so much for your assistance! Just to clarify, even if the medical she went through for the K-1 happened about a year and a half ago at this point, she is still exempt from needing to complete the I-693 for the AOS interview, since the receipt on her I-485 application (April 3rd, 2018) falls within the 1 year window following her overseas medical examination (October 27, 2017) and we submitted the DS-3025 with her AOS application. All we will need is the copy of her DS-3025 for the AOS interview in this case?

We recently received our AOS interview notice in the mail, so we have recently began getting everything together for our interview, which will occur in a little under a month. While getting everything together, we have found ourselves uncertain on a few of the items that are requested.

The biggest source of confusion, that I have yet to find a concise answer to looking through the VJ forums, is whether we should have another medical examination done for my wife (I-693) prior to the interview? My wife was a K-1 holder, prior to marrying me and applying for AOS a little over a year ago. When we submitted the AOS package, we included a copy of her DS-3025 from the medical interview she had overseas, which had the "US vaccination requirements complete (requesting blanket waiver)" boxed checked. We did not submit an I-693 at the time we submitted the AOS package, because we were under the impression that if you filed for AOS within 1 year of having your overseas medical complete with all US vaccination requirements as a K-1 holder, it was not necessary to file an I-693. I have never seen any documentation from USCIS stating that you still have to provide an I-693 at a later time online (if you file AOS under this status) or received an RFE related to that matter up to this point. Some people are claiming that the overseas medical is only valid for a year, but I have yet to find anything pointing to that being true. Ultimately, we are trying to understand whether individuals that were previously K-1 holders adjusting status need to bring an I-693 to the interview or if the original DS-3025 from the overseas medical will be adequate for the IO? Fortunately, we still have a little time, so I can call to get an I-693 exam scheduled tomorrow if it really is necessary to avoid any RFE delays post-interview.

Here are all of her important date's:

Overseas Medical Exam: 10/27/2017

Enter on K-1 (Pass Documents at POE): 01/12/2018

I-485 Receipt Notice: 04/03/2018 (DS-3025 submitted with package)

I-485 Interview Notice: 04/10/2019

I-485 Interview Date: 05/15/2019

The second question we have is related to whether USCIS would want a new affidavit of support, despite us having submitted one with the original I-485 package. Interview notice says "unless previously submitted," but I'm worried if the IO will feel that a new affidavit of support is needed to reflect the 2018 tax year and the increase in my annual income. I am still working in the same job, but have received a raise between when I filed the affidavit of support and when we will be going to the interview. We have filed our taxes for the last year (wife has not started working since entering the U.S.), so it is only me providing for our household, but it is still new information that could be included in the affidavit of support potentially. I am considering either redoing the affidavit of support, or just bringing a new employer letter reflecting my new salary and status as well as about 8 pay stubs. We were planning on bringing our tax return from last year anyway, since we filed jointly, as evidence of our relationship as well. If I go with the 2nd option, I'd of course still bringing a copy of the original affidavit of support I submitted, but I wanted to see if the community may have some insight on whether it's worth updating the affidavit of support prior to the interview as well.

Thanks for the insight. I don't where we'd be without the community at VJ.

6 hours ago, Huckleberry&Koala said:

W8 ben is required by IRS, and your wife may be a resident alien per IRS. You can determine it with substantial presence test. The same thing happened to us, when I first arrived to US, I had to fill out that form for my own account because I wasn't a resident alien per the test. But couple of months later, when we went to open a joint account, I was a resident alien per IRS. Bank officer told me to fill that form due to me not having green card and not being a resident alien, but we explained the situation- which is the form is required by IRS so I am a resident alien per IRS. Then, she went to talk with her supervisor, finally they opened the bank account without me signing that form. If she is a resident alien per IRS, then they shouldn't request you to fill that form, just explain the situation and make them know you know your rights. Just a friendly advise:)

@Huckleberry&Koala

Thank you so much for clearing this up! My wife passes the substantial presence test at this point, so if I am understanding you correctly, she should be considered a resident alien of the US now. As a result, she can be added to my account without the need for a W8 ben to be filed. She has everything else that is required: SSN, etc as well. So it’s just a matter of making sure they understand that she passes the substantial presence test and is therefore eligible to be added. I knew something seemed wrong when they were trying to push us into filing the W8 when we tried to get her added onto my account the first time.

I wanted to see if the community may be able to shed some light on how necessary it is to have a joint bank account established prior to having the AOS interview? I recognize that it seems like most people ensure that a joint bank account is in place before the interview, but after discovering that the W8 ben is necessary for someone to be added to/establish a bank account without permanent resident status, it seems pretty impractical to add my spouse to my account before she has become a permanent resident (when she no longer needs to have the W8 ben filed). From what I have been able to gather, the W8 ben would subject dividend returns on our bank accounts to additional taxation potentially (based on the US's agreement with my wife's home country, Japan) and will remain in effect until 3 years after the filing date (despite my wife likely receiving permanent residence status during that time) as she would be filing the W8 ben with an active SS number and not an ITIN.

As mentioned above, my financial institution informed me that she would not need to have the W8 ben filed if she were a permanent resident of the US, so it's tough for me to justify adding her to the account just to show she's on it with a 3 year penalty for doing so. I have been managing all of our finances/bills; and my wife has not started working since receiving her EAD, so adding her to my bank account is not something we've really thought much about until realizing that it'll likely be time to go through the AOS interview soon.

I also wanted to note that my wife is on the lease to our apartment and we have been collecting a substantial amount of additional evidence of our ongoing marriage and relationship in the form of photos, airline tickets from trips, etc. If anyone has an other advice for additional documents to have on-hand during the interview, that would be a huge help and very much appreciated.

Thanks again guys!

2 hours ago, geowrian said:

Hopefully soon. It's only been 3 business days since the last post (and a holiday weekend at that).

 

Absolute worst case is they didn't get it at all. You wife becomes out of status for a few days/weeks, you discover it wasn't accepted, then you refile AOS. An overstay will not hurt your AOS case as the spouse of a USC, and she will have authorized stay once they do get it.

Thanks for getting back to me again. You've been a tremendous help. For some reason, we received the notifications for all 3 forms (AOS, Employment Document, Advanced Parole as separate case numbers) tonight around 11PM via text. We're glad we got the notifications, but we were surprised that we'd receive them at such a strange time of day.

Thanks guys! I still haven't heard anything back from them. I attached the 1145 as well. I'm still in the 2nd week since I mailed it, so hopefully I'll hear something soon. We are just a little worried since her i-94 expires on April 11th. I'm worried what will happen if USCIS still hasn't confirmed receipt of the package by that time.

Hello all, I'm sure this has been asked many times on this forum, but I was curious if anyone has any rough idea when to expect a communication from USCIS regarding the receipt of an i-485 package currently? I submitted the paperwork last week, and it was delivered a tad before 5PM in Chicago last Friday, the 23rd of March. I still haven't received any notification from USCIS that they have received the package. I was curious when I should start to be concerned about whether they have the package in-hand? Thanks for any input.

Hello all, we are hoping to get our AOS application submitted to USCIS this week, but we had a few last minute questions that we wanted to see if anyone could answer for us. My wife was a K1 holder, for reference.

1. For the i-693, I understand that we are to submit only the first page (information about you section completed only) and a copy of her DS-3025 that she received at the time she completed her medical exam overseas. We are concerned if there will be any problems with submitting the form unsealed? She was only provided unsealed copies of the forms at the time of the examination she had overseas. We are planning on turning in the first page of the i-693 and the copy of the DS-3025 from her overseas medical that has the seal of the hospital on it with the AOS. Again what we have is unsealed. Is that acceptable?

2. We have been told that it is acceptable to specify TBD or unknown for the date of travel and duration, where that is asked on the form, but it is unclear how we address the following section under "Complete Only if Applying for Advanced Parole":

On a separate sheet of paper, explain how you qualify for an Advanced Parole Document. and what circumstances warrant issuance of advanced parole. Include copies of any documents you wish considered.

We have no idea what we should do about that section. We'd only be going back to visit her family and friends. Is it better to submit the form immediately with Unknown/TBD or wait to submit it once you know the dates and times? It is my understanding that the advanced parole document will still be free of charge so long as she has an AOS pending. It should be a multi-use advanced parole document as well correct?

Hello all, we are hoping to get our AOS application submitted to USCIS tomorrow, but we had a few last minute questions that we wanted to see if anyone could answer for us. My wife was a K1 holder, for reference.

1. For the i-693, I understand that we are to submit only the first page (information about you section completed only) and a copy of her DS-3025 that she received at the time she completed her medical exam overseas. We are concerned if there will be any problems with submitting the form unsealed? She was only provided unsealed copies of the forms at the time of the examination she had overseas. We are planning on turning in the first page of the i-693 and the copy of the DS-3025 from her overseas medical that has the seal of the hospital on it with the AOS. Again what we have is unsealed. Is that acceptable?

2. We have been told that it is acceptable to specify TBD or unknown for the date of travel and duration, where that is asked on the form, but it is unclear how we address the following section under "Complete Only if Applying for Advanced Parole":

On a separate sheet of paper, explain how you qualify for an Advanced Parole Document. and what circumstances warrant issuance of advanced parole. Include copies of any documents you wish considered.

We have no idea what we should do about that question. We'd only be going back to visit her family and friends. Is it better to submit the form immediately with Unknown/TBD or wait to submit it once you know the dates and times? It is my understanding that the advanced parole document will still be free of charge so long as she has an AOS pending. It should be a multi-use advanced parole document as well correct?

3. On the i-485 form itself, we are unsure how we should answer this question:

Have you ever been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group in the United States or in any other location in the world including military service?

She was a performing member of an American drum and bugle corps for 2 summers in the US. Does that count as a yes to this question? The question is so vague, so we aren't sure whether that qualifies as a yes to the question.

On 3/12/2018 at 12:39 AM, geowrian said:

1) Correct (assuming the K-1 medical is less than 1 year old).

 

2) You can enter "0" for that box. The instructions say not to report the same person more than once.

Assets are optional. If you will not be using assets to meet the requirements, then you can leave those blank just fine. I did.

A tax transcript is perfectly fine. Th employment letter and some pay stubs in additional to verify income is suggested.

 

3) "Unknown" or "TBD" is fine. You don't need specific dates for the I-131 on the basis of having a pending I-485.

There's no fee for the I-765 or I-131 when filed with an I-485. Just include the packets in the same mailing and it's fine.

AP issued for a pending AOS will be multiple-use. The I-131 is used for many different purposes, so not all questions are very meaningful in your circumstances.

Thank you so much for your response! I had 2 other questions for you that I wanted to see if you may have some insight into. The 1st is an extension to my i-131 question. In the advanced parole part of the form it says to include a separate sheet of paper to explain how you qualify for advance parole. It asks for documents to be included that you would like considered to support that as well. I don't understand what we could put down for that.

The other question I had stems back to the i-485. Part of the form asks if you have ever been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with an organization, etc in the US. My wife was a member of a US based drum and bugle corps for 2 summers as a performing member. I am not sure if that counts for that question. She wasn't paid to perform in group and was in the US for only 3 months on a normal traveler's visa.

3 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Unknown would be appropriate as well

Ok, what about for what I would put on the separate sheet of paper to explain how she qualifies for advance parole? It asks for documents to be included that you would like considered to support that as well.

16 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Correct

Thank you. I had 1 more question for you as well. For the i-131, can you enter TBD for the date of departure and the length of the trip? I'm confused how we would have insight into when we would be planning on exiting the country, to return to Japan temporarily, during the roughly 2 years it will take for the AOS to process. I also have no idea what I would put on the separate sheet of paper to explain how she qualifies for advance parole. It asks for documents to be included that you would like considered as well.

3 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Her visa became invalid the moment she entered the USA so that is not consideration as to when you file the AOS paperwork.  I prepared all of the I-485 paperwork but did not sign as preparer.  

So you prepared all of the documents and just had your spouse sign the documents as the applicant? i-485, i-765, i-131?

My wife recently came in on a K-1 visa. We got married last month and are completing the AOS paperwork, to get it finished and submitted prior to her visa expiring in mid April. We were wondering if I (the US citizen husband) should sign the paperwork as a preparer of the documents? Obviously I know I need to complete the i-864 by myself, as I'm the sponsor, but it seems like ideally she should be completing all of the her forms herself (if I'm understanding correctly). Thanks ahead of time for any input. I cannot wait to get this thing submitted.

I am currently in the process of completing the paperwork for the AOS of my wife to a permanent resident of the US. Fortunately, the paperwork seems easier than the original i-129f paperwork, but I have run into some things that are not completely making sense to me. I wanted to see if I can get some input from the community on these questions.

1. Since my now wife was a K1 recipient, it is my understanding that she does not need to have another medical exam to fulfill the requirements of the i-693. We have a copy of the medical exam that was completed in Japan, prior to her interview at the embassy. From the instructions for the i-693, we saw that the vaccination record should be included, but nothing about any of the other forms. I want to make sure that we do not have to complete anything on the i-693 (meaning we don't submit that form at all) and only include a copy of the vaccination records that are part of the copy of the medical record report with the AOS submission.

2. I have a few questions about the affidavit of support that I would like to get some input on as well. On the section regarding household size, the 3rd question asks you to enter 1 for your spouse if you are married. Since my wife is the principal immigrant that I am sponsoring, I have already counted her in an earlier section of the affidavit. I will only be supporting her and myself, so I don't understand why it would say to enter 1 for my spouse, making the total 3 instead of 2 (what it should be). She is not bringing any family in with her. How should I address that section? Should I leave the spouse part blank, since she's already counted? I am also concerned if it is frowned upon to not complete the additional pieces of the form that are marked optional (Assets section, etc). I wouldn't have an issue doing it, but we would like to mail this out this week as she has 1 more month left on her K1 visa. My income is far above the 125% poverty line mark, and I am going to provide my tax return from the most recent year only. Is a tax transcript acceptable? I was also planning to include a short letter from my boss confirming my annual income. The reason I ask about that is because my income was very low during 2015, which is the 3rd tax year you have to report on the form, since I was a student at the time. I was wondering if clarifying why my income was so low that year in the supplemental information area will be adequate?

3. The last question (for now) that we have is regarding the i-131 (requesting advanced parole). We noticed that it asks for the exact dates that my wife would be planning to travel outside the US while her AOS is pending. We would like to try to go back to Japan to visit her family while the AOS is processing, but we haven't set an actual date yet. Will we have to file the i-131 separately and pay the filing fee once we have determined when we will go, if we can't figure that out prior to submitting the original AOS documentation? There is also a segment of the form that asks if you plan to use the advanced parole document more than 1 time, which is confusing when it asks questions regarding a specific time frame for a given trip earlier in the form. As a result, we are looking for some clarification on that aspect of the form as well.

Thanks again for any input. We can't wait to finally have this stuff submitted and off our hands.

What is the USCIS Number?

My wife and I got married exactly 1 month ago today, after she entered the US on a K1 visa. We are currently completing the paperwork necessary to adjust her status to permanent resident, but we have run into a few things on the I-485 form that we are not understanding.

1. In the section regarding "Information About Your Immigrant Category" the Receipt Number of the Underlying Petition is asked for, as well as the priority date from the underlying petition (if you are the principal applicant, which in this case my wife is the one applying, so it is her). We are not sure what this is referring to. Is it the i-129f receipt number? What is meant by the priority date?

2. There is another question later in the form that asks if you have ever been involved with any organization in the US. My wife and I met when we were mutually part of a musical organization that toured the US during the summers of 2009 and 2010. The organization is US based. I think that probably qualifies as a yes to the question, but I just want to be sure that I am understanding that question correctly.

3. For the employment history section,  are gaps in employment permissible in the 5 year period when completing that section? I remember the G-325 did not allow gaps to exist; that is to say that you had to note periods where you were unemployed. I can't find anything on the instructions for the form that discusses that. Currently we have all the jobs she has worked in the last 5 years on the form, but we have no included unemployed gaps.

4. When it comes to paying the fee, do they expect a single check for the sum of the filing fee and the biometrics fee ($1225) or 2 separate checks for ($1140 and $85 respectively)

Thanks for the input as always. Very happy to be part of this community.

We got NOA2 that same week I was with her in Japan. She is now in the US with me after entering on the K-1 visa. The visa journey estimates were incredibly accurate, literally to the day, which was quite remarkable. We are currently preparing the paperwork for her AOS now (we got married a few weeks ago). Thank you and best of luck to you too.

Hello all,

My fiancee recently entered the US on the K1 visa. We are planning on getting married next month, but we were planning to head over to the social security office to apply for her SS card this week (as suggested by visa journey). We have been compiling the required documents, but we have a few questions we wanted to see if we could get some feedback. Any input is very much appreciated as always.

1. Since she just came in a few weeks ago, she clearly still has a foreign passport, which it seems will be fine for identification purposes, but we aren't sure what is acceptable for the 2nd form of identification as required by SS-5. Driver's license and state id card are called out on the form, but she doesn't have any form of US id card yet. She does have her passport and driver's license from her country with her, but I don't know whether they'll accept the driver's license alongside the passport in this situation or not.

2. Under the citizenship question on the form, we have checked legal alien allowed to work. It is my understanding that she will be able to work after we have filed the I-785, but that won't happen until we file for status adjustment. I wanted to make sure marking that option at this time is permissible.

3. It appears that it is recommended in the K1 flow chart to get the SS card as soon as possible and return to the SS office after we're married to change the name on the card, but would it make more sense in our situation to wait to apply for the SS card until after we're married. She's been here for 2 weeks on Friday, and if we get married within the first few weeks of February, it should be well within the 90-day expiration date of her I-94.

My fiancee received her K1 visa a little over a month ago, and she is going to be entering the US within a few weeks. We have been getting everything in order, but we have been having issues finding a clear cut answer on how to best transfer her money from her home country, Japan, to the US. I understand of course you can do a wire transfer, but we are really worried about being taxed on the money she brings in as additional income (or something of the sort during tax season), when in reality, it is her money that she has saved over many years of working in Japan. Is there a limit to how much can be transferred annually (if the money is viewed as a gift), which might lead me to believe we will have to transfer the money in steps? Recently, she transferred all of her money to an account her father has in Japan, where we are going to leave it until we can figure out how to best transfer it. Any input on this matter would be very much appreciated. I'm thankful to have this community to consult when questions arise during this lengthy process.

I recently received NOA2 for my fiancee, and I am now starting to compile the remaining documents that my fiancee will need to bring to the interview at the embassy. I'm currently working on the affidavit of support. VJ's K1 guide mentions getting documents from an official where you bank containing the information shown in the attached image. I was planning to go to my financial institution tomorrow to obtain the required document, but I am not sure how far in advance this document can be prepared prior to her completing her interview at the embassy? She still hasn't received packet 3, and I haven't gotten confirmation that the national visa center has mailed the necessary documentation to the embassy yet. I had the same question relating to the employment statement and stocks and bonds (asked for on the AoS form itself and obviously have changing value).

I was also wondering what the VJ K1 guide is referring to by making sure my fiancee has documentary proof that I submitted the I-129F for her? I'm assuming a copy of the NOA1 is proof enough, but I am not sure. I was planning on copying my tangible versions of NOA1 and NOA2 for her to have for the interview. I was also wondering how I am supposed to assess the value of my personal property (which is asked for on the AoS)? I'm assuming personal property refers to cars, or other things usually used for collateral for loans, but I'm not completely sure. I was also wondering how critical it is on the form to have a life insurance policy? As I have lived alone up to this point, I haven't seen the point of having a life insurance policy. Once I am married to my fiancee, I will obtain a life insurance policy with my with her as the beneficiary. I also wanted to reconfirm that my fiancee is to bring the Affidavit of Support with her to the interview at the embassy and that I'm not supposed to mail it to USCIS myself? Thanks for the input as always.

Update: We received NOA2 today! Still have quite a bit to do, but I'm glad this phase is finally over. I'm optimistic that she can get the visa by the end of the year. VJ's estimate is incredibly accurate.

Apologies for taking so long to respond. I am actually abroad visiting my fiancée at the moment. I still haven't received NOA2 yet, but I think there's a chance it'll happen this week based on VJ's current processing time estimates. Best of luck to you and hope your's comes in soon.

At this time, I still have not received any updates regarding the application. The process does take a long time for those that file toward the middle of the year. From data on this site, I noticed that people that filed anytime from the beginning of the year to around March were getting NOA2 within 2 to 3 months, but after that time, it starts to take much longer for a reason that I don't completely understand. I think my application will be looked at in the next week or so, based on the VJ estimate, but I am a little anxious too, because I am going back to Japan to visit my fiancee in Tokyo for a few weeks next week. I never would have thought it would take this long to get NOA2. My fiancee is starting to feel anxious as well.

The only thing we can really do is continue to wait, but fortunately VJ tries to estimate the NOA1 dates of applications that are being processed, which I am assuming is what you have been following as I have. I tried calling USCIS at one point to check after about 3 months, but I noticed they aren't really interested in helping you look into the status of your application beyond what you likely already knew when you called in. USCIS doesn't regularly update their processing times either, so VJ is likely a more accurate source to track when you can expect your application to be viewed and hopefully adjudicated. Another source you should look at is the link, that one of the posters on this thread provided, that has the numbers for how many applications (all applications encompassed) USCIS has received, approved, and denied each quarter (this is pretty well hidden on the USCIS site). I found this to be useful as you can get a general idea of where your application is sitting; based on when you sent it in during the quarter, etc. Since their year starts in October, they are in the 4th quarter now. The 3rd quarter, which is where your application was filed, has not been added to these statistics yet, but I would think it would be done in the next couple weeks or so based on when the 2nd quarter was added (June 8th, which is 3 months after the 2nd quarter ended).

Lastly, while my fiancee has been feeling stressed out at times with the process of waiting for the visa to come through, she has been doing her best to distract herself from it by continuing to work a simple department store job (that she can exit from quickly when the visa comes in) and spending time with friends / family that she won't see quite as much anymore once the visa is done. I recognize that you may be doing many of these things already, but I think it's important to embrace the time you have left in Japan as you will have the rest of your life to spend with your fiance. I don't know how good your fiance's Japanese is, but I have been continuing to improve my Japanese during this time, to keep my mind off the visa, by studying for the JLPT at the end of year. Best of luck and hope your application comes in sooner rather than later.

Here's the link I discussed again for convenience:

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data/data-set-all-uscis-application-and-petition-form-types

I was wondering if anyone may be able to provide some insight into how long the petitioner for a K1 visa has to respond to an RFE, in the event one is issued, regarding your particular case? I'll start off with a little background on my current situation. I filed my K1 petition for my fiancee at the end of April. The petition was received by USCIS on April 28th, 2017, and the NOA1 date is May 2nd, 2017. The petition was transferred to the CSC as well. I still haven't heard anything back on NOA2 unfortunately, but it seems USCIS is reaching the end of April (VJ estimates the CSC is working on K1's with an NOA1 date of April 24th, 2017 at the time of this posting).

I am going to Japan to visit my fiancee in a two weeks, and I'll stay for two weeks. At this point, I'm starting to doubt that I will hear anything back on NOA2 before I go to Japan, but I think there is a possibility I could either receive NOA2 or get an RFE while I'm there (potentially during the beginning of the trip). In the event that I do receive an RFE, I'm concerned about not being able to respond to the RFE fast enough due to being with my fiancee in Japan at the time it's issued. I'm hoping my paperwork will be adequate to avoid an RFE altogether, but you can never be too sure that everything is exactly as the adjudicator wants it to be. If I get NOA2, I think I'm correct in saying that I should have more than enough time to complete the remaining documents (affidavit of support, etc.) that my fiancee needs to bring to her interview at the embassy.

I appreciate any input anyone may have on this matter.