Peot

Tldr; I want to detail my experience for others going to this same location at the Detroit field office for USCIS. I was approved!

Hope this helps! 

Location

If you attended a green card interview or removal of conditions, this is the same location. It's a stone's throw from downtown Detroit and a few blocks from Belle Isle park. The surrounding area is pretty empty. If you're not from the area you will see boarded-up houses everywhere nearby and this can be a bit of a shock for the unacclimatized, but despite this it is NOT a bad area of Detroit. 

Unfortunately, it's just far enough away from downtown (about 20 mins) to make it kind of inconvenient to venture that way if you have time to spare. Most substantial stores and malls are about 40 minutes away. Keep in mind that if you travel to kill time there will be travel time to get back! 

There's a diner a few blocks away (Legends), but you need to order food - they specifically do not let you wait there for your interview unless you order food.

They are extremely strict about not letting you in until 15 mins before your appointment and there is no waiting area - you have to wait either outside or in the main breezeway which is like a greenhouse in the heat (or in your car if you have one). If you try to enter early, they will turn you away, and they have a list of schedules so they know when people are supposed to be there. All interviews are done in blocks of several people at a time.

Process

At both security and check-in, I needed my interview notice document out and ready. Biometric confirmation was done at check-in. 

I have my 10 year GC, and this was done via Removal of Conditions interview at this location based on marriage.

If your interview is a combo interview for green card like I-751 or ROC, your spouse can attend the interview. For me on the other hand, because I already had my 10 year, my spouse was allowed past security and past check-in point, but needed to stay in the waiting room while I went in to interview.

The entire time from entry to security to check-in to interview was about 20-25 minutes. Most of the time was spent waiting in the waiting room to be called. I saw at least one person go through security, check-in, and get called all within about 5 minutes, so it really depends.

As of a week ago, they now allow cellphones in the waiting room area despite the signs that say you can't. This is what I was told by the check-in clerk.

Interview

Took about 15 minutes total. You need to be sworn in / attest to tell the truth before proceeding.

They did not want to see any of my supporting documentation original copies, but of course, I had them just in case. The documentation they wanted was:

• Green card
• Drivers license (ID)
• Passport - open to the photo page

They asked very few questions. They asked (in no particular order):

• What was my wife's name
• How many marriages did they have
• How they became a citizen or what gave them citizenship status
• What my stepchildren's names were
• Do I owe any federal taxes

They then went through the tests (see below), followed by confirming the same questions as the application form regarding being a part of a terrorist group, that you are willing to defend the country if called upon, and so forth. 

As soon as this was done, she rifled through the documents one last time and then printed out a letter noting that I was approved on the spot. The oath ceremony is to be booked "30 to 60 days from now, but likely sooner". 

Testing 

Reading test they had me read off an iPad: "What was the first state in the United States?".

Writing test they had me write on the same iPad "Delaware was the first state".

Note: I have heard from another who attended Detroit that they asked "Who was Abraham Lincoln" -> "Abraham Lincoln was President during the Civil War", so these questions are clearly randomized, or different depending on the interviewer.

Civics questions, they only asked until I reached the 60% threshold - so 6 questions total:

• How many US senators are there?
• What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
• What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
• Who did the United States right in WWII?
• What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
• Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

Note: Again, I have heard a completely different set was offered to others. However, the questions were exactly worded as they are in the 100q document provided by USCIS to study. Study all questions as the ones you get will almost certainly be different. 

I brought my wife to my interview in Detroit this week. Maybe my case is different because it's not a "combo" interview eg: removal of conditions was done years ago.

My wife was able to come through security and get checked in, but the officer conducting the meeting stopped her at the door when my name was called.

"This interview is for you, not her". is what she said along with "If she was here, she would make you too nervous", which is probably the opposite of true, but it's whatever.

She was able to sit in the waiting room at least. 

Green card (and likely combo) are different if based on marriage, because the spouse of course has to be there, but for N400 they did not let her in. 

This is great information for me as well! My wife and I are planning on moving to Canada after our long process to get me immigrated to the United States as our next 5-year plan. Through the course of having her visit me and my family in Canada, she grew to love the country and its culture, food, health care, etc... 

I'm in the process right now of getting US citizenship even though the plan is to eventually move. Mostly to make travel and income (job qualification being citizenship) easier.

I do know a thing or two about paying US income tax while in Canada though and it's a bit of a headache you will need to contend with each year.

1. The comment about Canada only taxing Canadian income is not true. They, like the US, tax worldwide income, and unless you file properly you can be subjected to double taxation. Canada has tax treaties with the US and offers tax credits for foreign income to get around this. I just wanted to clear that up in case there was a chance that you might still get residual income from US-based sources.

2. You can't rely on things like tax software or even most tax online services available in Canada as they region-lock it. In other words, it will only present you with options of Province, not State, and dollar amounts in CAD, etc. You do have some options available, but what I'm getting at is that it's not as easy as going down to your local green tax service to get it done, you may need to file the documents yourself or reach out to a specialist in foreign tax filing. It's not difficult to do it yourself by the way, but I realize it can be daunting for some.

8 minutes ago, red12345 said:

Could you please send it to me as well? Thank you!

Yes! Sent you a message.

That's very great news, and I'm happy to hear there was a level of compassion shown!

While I was waiting in line for similar USCIS appointments, I've seen people without an appointment get completely turned away, so it appears to be situational. Being very pregnant sounds like a good qualifier to me, but if someone is reading this thinking "they accept walk-ins", that shouldn't be the takeaway. 

I am studying as well. I picked up flash cards for the 2023 (2024) 100-questions online through a suggestion from a friend who went through the same process.

I recommend doing the same, but the questions are mostly no-brainers. Should be easy!

On 10/24/2021 at 1:03 AM, Ayrton said:

I don't think you realize that the problem isn't if you're gonna get your Greencard or not after doing unauthorized work. You will get your Greencard, there's no questions about that, because unauthorized work is forgiven for spouses of USC applying for adjustment of status. But this doesn't mean that the work you're doing is authorized and legal. And there might be other consequences for it.

 

Immigration is only one leg of the "US government". Taxes are another one. Foreign entities that employs a US person, which you were, is supposed to get an EIN and send all your information to IRS. Depending on the country, they are even supposed to collect social security and medicare.

 

So remember, even though immigration doesn't care about your unauthorized work for a foreign company, other US entities might come to haunt you later on.

 

 

I noted that receiving an EAD is the best course of action, but I don't quite agree with your logic on this one.

Before the adjustment of status (which is the time you would need an EAD), you are not a US person. You are actually only "lawful status", but technically a non-resident alien. During this time, the applicant generally should maintain their foreign residence, or will retain the ability to reside in their foreign country.

When the funds are paid in foreign denominations into a foreign bank account connected to a non-resident of the US who maintains a foreign residence and ultimately pays foreign taxes, it would be difficult to convince this person or the company employing them that they are in fact a "US person". No more so than someone who enters the US on a 6 month visitor visa and continues to do remote work from their hotel room.

With all of that said I think it would be a very different situation with tax implications if you did not maintain a foreign address, or were being paid into a US bank account, were paid in US funds, or employed by a US company. Likewise there could be legal implications if you were employed by a US company BEFORE obtaining a green card or EAD with the expectation that you would eventually get this - that is entirely working without authorization and should come back to bite you.

The short of it is that if every aspect of the transaction is in a foreign country except for the fact that your desk chair is in the US - this makes little sense to require an EAD. 

Hilarious about these Canadian long-form birth certificates. I had no idea it was a thing until I went through the K1 process myself, so it must be a Canadian thing! When I finally did get the long-form, it came on a very tiny piece of paper, and I still had it rejected by the embassy because they didn't believe it was the long version. I was able to prove it to them by submitting my short version. 

I think benign issues like the one you point out are not too bad. A real human will read the documentation and know that your mother wasn't married and having a child with a husband who was an infant himself. I don't have any direct experience because I had a correction on a birth certificate that was done in the pre-covid days. It took no time at all to process and ultimately I was able to hit all of my timelines.

Funny enough, because of my birth certificate corrections, the US decided that my first and middle name were both my "first name", and this is now how I am addressed by Social Security here. Nobody could change it because "that's how it was processed". These frustrations seem to resolve themselves in one place, and surface in another 😅

Apply and receive your EAD because this is the requirement - but note that it holds no value, nobody will ask for it, and even if you don't have it, it won't impact your status.

Technically, employment remotely (distributed) is not allowed, and everyone will tell you this, however this has never made much sense to me and I can't find much logic in requiring the EAD for a spousal visa when you are employed by a foreign company.

1. If it's a foreign company based in a foreign country, they will not have an authorized "E-verify" company ID. The US govt will not have any way to reference this company or determine its legitimacy.

2. When you receive your EAD, you will have no reason to hold it. There will be no existing entity to present it to. If you present your EAD to your foreign company, they will have no use for it and no way to process it.

3. Thinking broadly, the purpose of an EAD is to protect American jobs. You are not taking away an American job by maintaining your position at a foreign company.

3.5 As this job is remote, there is no American-based address for this company that you are attending. You work from home. There's no way for the US government to determine if you are going to work or not. Again, you are not filling the shoes of an American worker.

4. After receiving the EAD, no future application within the process of adjusting status or naturalization will ever reference it or require it.

Requiring an EAD for foreign work is complete nonsense.

I was in the same boat, and got an EAD though I was working for a foreign company. They didn't want to see it, and I never once had to present it to anyone. No bank or lender knew what it was or wanted it. By the time anyone cared about my employment status, I had a full green card and began work for an American company. It made me feel the entire process of waiting for an EAD was pointless, and costly. You essentially have to quit your job to wait a few months for a card nobody in your country will want.

This would be very different if I were working for a US company, or if I had been applying for a different type of visa, especially work-based, but I just don't see the point when it comes to K1 EADs.

Amazing story! Thank you for sharing.

1. You cannot with draw a "petition" (I-129F) after it's been approved, because it's no longer a petition - it's a valid visa. These expire after 6 months on their own. If your fiance enters the country with their approved K1, they have 90 days or its invalidated that way. If you do withdraw or let it expire, red flags may still be raised when trying to enter on waivers - definitely expect there to be a lot of scrutiny as to the meaning of the trip. 

Eg: If I were a CBP agent, and I saw that there had been a valid K1 that expired, but they were still travelling to see the same person, you would have to be very convincing in order for me not to believe you were entering to stay.

2. You, as the sponsor, need to provide an affidavit of support (financial information), regardless of whether or not his income and assets qualify. You have to ensure that when your fiance enters the country and ultimately becomes your spouse, you can support them if they become a "public charge".

3. Once he is a LAPR, he can purchase coverage off the marketplace, typically with very few limitations, but of course the prices don't really start cheap. I recommend people create a bit of a buffer in their bank accounts for emergencies and unexpected medical expenses in the interim. 

You should hold on to your "wet signature" versions, and bring them with you to the interview in case they want to see the originals. For filing purposes, copies are fine. 

On 3/1/2021 at 12:25 PM, TYosemite said:

Thank you so much for the help, this is exactly how we ended up filling it out. 

I think because I handled all of the forms so far he just had a bit of a panic!

I admit that when I was first going through the process, I had a few moments of panic as well - unsure of whether or not I was doing something right or wrong, but it's honestly not something to panic about.

You come to realize that it's a real human going through the paperwork. If something is wrong, or not clear to them, they will send an RFE for more information, which is not a big deal at all. Usually, they understand the nature of the application and should be ok with it. Any additional questions are usually asked and answered at the interview. Once it's all said and done, and especially at the interview(s), you realize how much you were overcomplicating it and overthinking things.

Best of luck to you both!

1. Page 1 Q 11-12 starts the section with the following statement:

If you are not a U.S. citizen based on your birth in the United States... ...answer the following as appropriate:

2. The evidence submitted with annual income is (usually) provided by third-party sources and couldn't be included on the last page. If you'd like, add a note on the final page noting "Page 3 Part 3 Q3 - see attached". But, the way the question is worded, it's implied the evidence will be attached. Either way, a real human will be reading this and can simply look at the attached documents. 

3. 26-29, Yes, they would provide your name, filing date here.

4.  As you noted, this is always a point of contention on this forum for some reason. Unless you are making "SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS" (a fixed dollar amount) to the fiancé, ie: providing them with room and board or a weekly stipend, this can be checked "do not intend". Think of the question as: Will your fiancé be providing you an allowance, yes/no?

If you can't provide the start date, the specific dollar amount, the reason for the payment, and the end date - don't include this.

On the other hand, if you know that your fiancé will be paying a medical bill starting June 2nd in a lump sum of $500 - go ahead and mark that down.

The most recent year's tax return should be fine if they were over the threshold. No need to supply so many years of tax documents if the person has been gainfully employed, consistently. The only reason to supply multiples of anything is if you feel there is a need to prove that the employment / income has been consistent.

When I went through the process, I actually included 2 different affidavits of support (because one had the previous years tax returns, and the other didn't). If you don't feel that one meets the criteria, you can always have a second one completed by someone else.

With that said, I would refer you to:

This lists the required evidence (as appropriate) as:
(A) Statement from an officer of the bank/financial institution with your deposits, identifying the following: 1. date account opened; 2. total amount deposited for the past year; 3. present balance
(B) Statement(s) from your employer on business stationary showing: 1. Date and nature of employment; 2. salary paid; 3. whether position is temporary or permanent (also include copies of your last two pay stubs and your previous W-2 for the associated employer if available)
(C) If Self Employed: 1. Copy of last income tax return filed (or IRS transcripts); or 2. report of commercial rating concern
(D) List containing serial numbers and denominations of bonds and name of record owner(s) if you own any.

I supplied A and B to my consulate, and it was adequate. Note it only contains the previous year's W-2. 

If you plan to move to the US "after" marrying your boyfriend, the K1 is not the route to take. 

That aside, the main point I would make is that there's no reason to panic before you are found inadmissible. It's worthwhile going through the process and trying, rather than saying "no let's not attempt it because there's a chance I could get denied". In every single application there's a chance that it will be denied. Your chances might be higher than another person's but that doesn't mean it will be a hard no.

The best thing you can do is being truthful and honest - not trying to hide your mental illness history if asked about it. Making sure your fiancé is aware and knows everything about it. The greater chances are that you will be fine, and that this will likely be covered by the medical segment of the process.

Just got my card yesterday. Service center was LIN.

The case status online wasn't updated until the card was delivered (with tracking number). No notifications via email, text, etc, despite requests for this. All's well that ends well though.

Next up, N-400!

18 hours ago, chrissandra said:

@katalaya

 my interview today was surreal...I’m still thinking about it as I’m sipping on my bourbon 🥃...

we came a little early but were allowed to get in and get our number. My appointment was at 1:20 but our number got called an hour later...we were taken to the office...my husband was with me (as they have asked him to come) but he was  not asked a single question...the officer went through our paperwork but not really conducting an interview..i took it as verifying information...and without any transition  I was asked to read a sentence, write that same sentence, asked civics questions and told i was approved. My green card should be in the mail and my oath ceremony date will bE sent by snailmail....all in all maybe 30 minutes of combo ROC and citizenship....

you are next!!! No stress needed!!! And yes I stressed myself to do bone...
 

good luck to all you immigration warriors 

Congratulations!

Given the huge timelines for ROC approval, I was also considering filing for N400 as soon as I am able, but didn't know how the process would be, if it would be any faster, or if it would be accepted at all. This post was super helpful - thanks for sharing your journey!

Received NOA1 on July 10 from Nebraska Service Center (LIN). 😄

Filed: 5/12

Returned to me 5/27 with errors (whoops)

Filed again 5/28

Receipt Date: 5/29

Notice Date: 7/1

Received NOA: 7/10

Timeline entries are not allowing for long processing times, even if they're within 8 weeks:

Those dates are within 6 weeks, however you get the error:

Moving the date closer, the error resolves (ie: if I choose June 11 instead of July 11).

With that said though, even if it is 8 weeks, considering current timelines are not going to fall typically within the "max" time due to world events, this limit should be extended or temporarily removed in any case.

Originally filed my ROC on 5/12

Received it back on 5/27 stating it was an expired form (my bad for using an old one found on my PC)

Sent the updated ROC off 5/28

Received 6/3 with the check cashed the same day - received a text message with my receipt number (case number I assume)

Now the waiting begins....

On 5/25/2020 at 10:53 PM, Peot said:

No status update for me yet. Package was received to UPS facility, Lewisville, on May 12. Check is still not cashed and still no receipt number. I’ve heard several people in this thread calling and getting case numbers, so I’ll give that a try tomorrow.

A bit worrying that others in the thread sent later than me and had their check cashed, but as always patience is key.

As another update, they rejected my request with a green-colored notice letter, but this was entirely my fault!

Reason for rejection was that I used an old copy of the I-751 form, even though I had downloaded several new copies. I suppose I must have found one saved on my computer YEARS ago by accident. No wonder they hadn't been cashing my check.

Receipt notice shows May 12th delivery, processed May 15th. Received the rejection notice in the mail May 27th. So, I lost 2 weeks worth of processing time because of this. Whoops.

Notice allows me to resubmit the file with fees completely returned. This is not an RFE or flat out rejection. On the bright side, I can now submit a G-1145 that I forgot the first time.

Going to run to the post office today and get this sent out before I need to consider myself a June filer 😅

No status update for me yet. Package was received to UPS facility, Lewisville, on May 12. Check is still not cashed and still no receipt number. I’ve heard several people in this thread calling and getting case numbers, so I’ll give that a try tomorrow.

A bit worrying that others in the thread sent laster than me and had their check cashed, but as always patience is key.

15 hours ago, JGUnion said:

About to send off my I-751 packet....planning to FEDEX it tomorrow to AZ Lockbox. Cards expire on 6/8...so sending it a little later than we wanted, but....yeah. Got enough evidence I feel, although slim on utility-type bills, I got seven affidavit letters, joint bank history, tax statements, health insurance statements, evidence of having same primary care doctor, emergency contact sheet, gym membership contract, trip to Canada receipt and boarding passes...boatload of photos showing evidence of time together with friends and family and special occasions.

 

I notice a few are sending in marriage certificates...which should be on file with the original Green Card application. Is it recommended to resend the marriage certificate? It doesn't say on I-751 Instructions.

I felt I was a little slim on my utility-type bills too, but hopefully showing that I have a mortgage with both of our names holds much more weight.... 

As for a marriage certificate, it's not at all required as it doesn't show the marriage is on-going, only that it happened, which they already know. The only reason at all I sent mine in at all, was because my brother signed as a witness and I hoped to show that family attended and were aware of the event, etc.

EDIT:

I could share a bit of an update on my status too. Filed May 11. Delivered with receipt on May 12 to Lewisville UPS location. Check not yet cashed, and of course like everyone else, no NOA yet, but also not expected yet. 

Be sure to also do a change of address (redirect) with USPS.

I filed an AR-11 form 2 years ago, and the USCIS still sends mail to the wrong address, so a redirect with USPS is your absolute fail safe. 😋

Had a bit of a delay getting all the information together - I decided that getting 2 affidavits, though not entirely necessary, would be a great idea anyway, and with current world events, getting signatures from other family members took more time than I imagined. Either way - sending off the form today.

I also read on https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/uscis-response-covid-19 today that they're reusing our biometrics from our initial USCIS location if we meet conditions, which I believe most I-751 filers should. An interesting change that affects all filters at least until September according to their info.