Lorna&Alex

Hey everyone!

just over a week ago my mum was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately went to the visa centre in Philly for an emergency appointment and the officer requested to expedite my AP. We just received a letter in the mail yesterday that my expedite has been approved and my combo card will arrive in the mail shortly. I’d like to go home to Scotland for a few months, maybe around 3-4 months. Does anyone know if there’s a limit on how long i’m allowed to stay in my home country with my AP? 

Thanks 

Unfortunately I just received news yesterday that my mum has lung cancer. I just moved here in June and got married in July on a K1 visa. We applied for AP/EAD/AOS a few weeks ago and we revived our NOA1s last week. After finding out the devastating news yesterday, I rushed down to the field office in Philadelphia and asked for an emergency appointment.  They gave me an emergency appointment and I asked for an emergency travel stamp so I can go home and see my mum and spend time with my family during this difficult time. Unfortunately the immigration officer Denied my request for the emergency travel stamp as she didn’t deem the cancer as an emergency yet because we don’t know what stage it’s at yet. However, she did request to expedite our  current AP and I should should hear back in 10 business days if they accept or deny the expedite. If they do deny it then she said at that point she will give me an emergency travel stamp to go home and spend some time with my mum for about 3-4 weeks. The other option would be to just to abandon this part of the process completely - EAD/AP/AOS and just jump on a flight and go home now. Obviously that would mean I couldn’t get back into the US on my K1 visa as it’s a 1-time entry but my husband could then sponsor me for a CR1 and we would just wait for that to process and I would come back to the US after the year or so. I guess what I’m asking is if anyone has any experince with just abandoning the K1/AOS process and then applying for a CR1 afterwards ?

thank you!! 

12 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

YES, absolutely.  Social Security is a different agency from Immigration. Use your married name.  When you get an EAD card,  your USCIS record will will be in the married name. Social Security will find your married name in the USCIS database and change your SS card to match USCIS records.

Thank you SO much!! this was a huge help

i managed to speak to someone at USCIS and they changed my date of birth - YAY! however, they said that it could take 15-30 days to actually process...and i want to send AOS this week  and in order to change my name at Social security, my date of birth has to be correct first...

Does anyone know if i can send the AOS/EAD/AP forms with my husbands last name which will be my new married name even though my Social security card, my bank account and my marriage certificate still have my maiden name on them??

or will I have to send my AOS etc. forms with just my maiden name on them?

thanks in advance!! 

2 minutes ago, BlessedAssurance said:

Call USCIS to correct the error. They will fix it and send you a confirmation letter. I remember during my AOS I made a typo on my DoB, and corrected it later when I noticed it in the NOA.

any chance you know which line to call?

I got married a couple of weeks ago to my husband who is the US citizen and we are currently preparing to send AOS. We were told that i can't change my name on my Social Security card (got one from a previous J1) in the state of Pennsylvania until after we do AOS but i thought i'd go to the social security office anyways and check it out. The man behind the window was processing everything and as expected he said 'there's been a problem' however, the problem was actually that immigration have listed my date of birth differently to whats on my passport (my real date of birth). does anyone know how i can change my date of birth to the correct one with immigration??

9 minutes ago, Alabamak1 said:

they usually ask you when you guys get your marriage license....what name do you want to go by. 

Not in PA. they told me I had to put my maiden name on the marriage lisence so that’s what I did 

Hey guys!!

im from the UK and moved here last month on a K1 visa. I got married last week in Pennsylvania and we’re just preparing to send AOS. Does anyone have advice on how I can change my last name to my husband’s name? We are residing in PA. 

we heard hitchswitch.com is good but apparently you can only use it when you’re an American citizen. 

2 minutes ago, audaud said:

Interesting, what happened when you went to the medical / interview? Did they ask for some sort of proof of your LND number? 

 

My fiancé and I are trying to figure out if we can skip waiting for his packet 3 to come in and just finish our medical and interview once we get our LND number

i dont think they asked for it at either of the appointments. I got USCIS to write an official email to me stating that they had definitely sent packet 3 but it had been lost in the mail, so I had that as proof in case they asked for it

On 20/05/2018 at 11:10 AM, audaud said:

Did you end up going to your medical without the packet 3?

yup!! I never received packet 3 so I didn't even have it for the interview

1 minute ago, DanimalBVB said:

Did it cause any problems at POE?

I haven't gone through POE yet. But you can't fly transatlantic without a passport so you need to open that first plastic envelope. There is another official envelope inside...don't open that 

22 minutes ago, DanimalBVB said:

So I just received a package from the courier. It’s a large, white, plastic envelope. I can feel what I believe is my passport inside. Do I open this plastic envelope to get my passport out or is this the envelope that must not be opened?

 

(London embassy if that matters?)

I opened that one to get my passport but not the inside one

2 minutes ago, LND2017 said:

Yes, though having one stopover, I found the pre-clearance very convenient, I knew someone waited 2 hrs to enter US in SFO, but it took me no more than 15 mins. 

I bought an interline ticket, the checked baggage was directly transferred to US, no need to collect it in Dublin.

Good luck with your trip!

cool, all very good to know  thanks for all the info!! 

I guess I read somewhere that when you're immigrating they need to scan your bags when you're going through customs/immigration so i thought maybe i'd have to collect my bags in dublin first so they could do that

2 hours ago, LND2017 said:

It was for my employment-based immigration visa.

very cool I'm assuming you maybe flew from England to Dublin and then Dublin to the US? if so, did you collect your bags in Dublin airport and then re-check them in after preclearance in Dublin? or did your bags just go all the way through from England to the US? 

thanks for all the answers guys! I am going buy some temporary insurance like you guys have suggested, just to cover all bases  Our wedding is all booked and planned for july 14th so after that I will get put on my Husband's insurance

8 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Okay, this question comes up a lot, so I'll do my best to make it simple.

 

Travel insurance is by a rule strictly for traveling. It expects you to be traveling and not living in the country. So what happens if you want to immigrate and need coverage at least for flying over the pond? Well you'll likely need to call them and ask for 'one way insurance', which covers your stuff and your physical body until you land or expires within 48hrs of landing.

 

Obviously this will not help if you've now moved here and want medical coverage. And that's the point, you've moved here and are no longer a visitor. There are some companies as you've seen above that will offer short term medical insurance for new immigrants. The facts are the coverage you're going to receive isn't always great. If you have pre-existing conditions they won't be covered... and in many situations you might have 'peace of mind' but when you really need it, good luck finding it useful. In the age of O'care I just can't see much use for such plans. And in the eyes of the government, under the law, they don't view you having that kind of short term plan as actual coverage. The tax penalty still used to apply for those who decided to roll with it for longer.

 

You will be eligible to be added to your spouse's plan as soon as you marry (so get that SSN, marry, and transition onto the plan as soon as possible). You're also eligible to go and buy whatever kind of plan you want. You're also still eligible based on marriage and immigration to sign up for O'care. So sure, you could buy short term coverage for peace of mind (no guarantee it will work if you should need it), then jump onto your spouse's plan (prepare for the sticker shock). Some people also spend that gap period without, especially if they are healthy. It's more difficult for those that need constant care or medication, but stocking up before moving can help.

really great advice, thank you

23 minutes ago, George & Roth said:

I bought temporary (6 weeks) insurance for my fiance through Seven Corners/ Liason Majestic (who acts as an agent), the insurance card and coverage was from United Healthcare.

 

Went with high coverage amount and high deductible since we do not plan to use it. She will be covered under my employers plan starting May 1st. 

 

 

https://www.americanvisitorinsurance.com/visa-insurance/fiancee.asp

https://www.***removed***.com/fiance-visa-medical-insurance/

http://www.lovevisalife.com/2017/02/temporary-health-insurance/

 

Some links I found when I was researching, went with Seven corners/United which is in the 1st link and when you get quotes called Liason Majestic.

 

 

that's so helpful, thank you  I'm going to look into it now!!

11 minutes ago, Dee elle said:

Yes. Purchase international travel insurance.. to cover major medical.. for the 90 days that your I 94 entry will be valid so you have  buffer of  a coup,e of months to enable you to get things sorted.. you won't believe how contorted and difficult manoevering the US health care and health insurance is.. no more one simple phone call and it's done.. 😭🤤😭😯

thanks for the info  it is such a grey area! i'm just trying to do the right thing in terms of insurance for the first month but it doesn't seem so easy now lol

10 minutes ago, Boiler said:

You are immigrating not travelling.

Yes, I am aware of that thank you. 

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

And do not mention to the Insurer that you have migrated and they do not find out.

 

And happy waiting a year or so to get back.

what do you mean by waiting a year or so to get back? Are you implying that AP is taking at least a year to be approved?

1 hour ago, jakejon said:

Oh and just one last question - did your K1 even come up in the conversation as I was debating whether I should say I’m going to stay with my fiancé...I’m just so nervous as it’ll be my first time in the US since filing

 

 

If they ask who you're visiting, be honest and tell them you're going to see your fiance. Always tell the truth but don't give any more information than required

hey guys
I'm moving to the US on my K1 visa in June and I'm just starting to look into health care options for when I'm living there. My fiance works for a small company and they don't provide a healthcare plan for him, he just pays his own each month. So after we're married in July, I'll probably just try and get added on to his plan for the first few months until I start working. However, I have a month in the US between moving and then actually getting married...during this time has anyone ever bought just regular tourist travel insurance to cover them for the first month they're in the US before they get a proper US healthcare plan? 

On 14/04/2018 at 9:04 PM, jakejon said:

Wow!!! Congrats on K1!! 

 

Was wandering as you said that you have done pre-clearance in Dublin...did you do this during your pending K1? I’ve a trip booked end of May and wandering what pre-clearance is like? I know people say you can visit during the pending K1 but wandering what your experience was like? Jon 🍀

yes it was while my K1 was pending I did pre-clearance at dublin, it was absolutely fine!

On 13/04/2018 at 8:45 PM, LND2017 said:

I had my pre-clearance in Dublin airport yesterday, absolutely straightforward and easy:-) But I do not need an I94, not sure about this.

was this pre-clearance on your K1 visa? or just a regular trip out there?

3 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Your I-94 needs to show the correct date of entry. Very important to have for your AOS, but especially important to have when trying to obtain an SSN before marriage. There are times when the officer may log the date incorrectly or not at all, and it's up to you to go back to the inspection site and prompt them to fix it. It doesn't happen to everyone of course, but it's one potential weird hypothetical hiccup.

Ah okay, I see. fortunately, I already have an SSN so it won't be an issue for that but I understand now how it could be an issue for filing AOS. Hopefully that doesn't happen to me :/

5 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

A lot of people use Dublin pre-clearance. The only potential issue I could see, would be if something wasn't logged correctly with the I-94. Getting it corrected usually involves going back to your POE inspection site. Don't know how that would be done if the POE was Dublin.

I'm not sure if I follow. Why would it need to be corrected?