CluelessAmerican

On 4/3/2021 at 10:35 AM, Bannonmh194 said:

Help!!! My husband is a March filer and we received his package back  in the mail today as rejected bc I filled out one part incorrectly. ( I know ). They stapled a paper that we are invited to resubmit once I correct the mistake. 

My question is: currently the green card he has is expired and now that we have to make the correction we are outside the window which they require to apply. Can I just correct my mistake and send it back ? They also sent back my money orders, can I just resend those as well?? 

This just happened with my wife's I-751. I miscalculated the fee so they rejected the application, and by the time we received it back again on March 10 her green card had expired. I sent it back on the same day with the correct amount and a cover letter explaining what happened. The check was cashed today and we were notified that they've accepted the new application. Presumably the usual NOA is coming in the mail soon (fingers crossed). Hopefully it will be the same for you.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I find the childcare issue to be a bit confusing -- not what the law is, which seems clear enough, but rather why it is that way. If my in-laws happened to be US residents and decided to take care of their grandchildren for free, that would have the same effect of taking jobs away from professional workers. I guess all that matters legally is whether you are allowed to work, not the specifics of who might lose income etc. In any case, the fact of the matter is they are not US residents, so do not have the same rights while in the US.

We will definitely take trips to Mexico, potentially longish ones if we can fit them into our work schedules, so I am not worried about how to make sure grandparents and other relatives are involved in general, and we will find a way to arrange childcare just like everyone else does. I am just trying to understand how the system works -- there is a lot I still don't know and which doesn't seem obvious.

I spoke with my wife a bit last night, and she doesn't think that her parents would want to visit for more than about 2 months at a time. I am not saying it would always be that long, just that that would be the maximum. I suppose the details of what to allow would depend on USCIS discretion. Is there any way to be more confident of what length/number of trips is OK and what isn't? We've been advised that visiting family is a perfectly normal use of a B visa, but I don't know when "visiting" becomes "living". In terms of intentions, I am confident that they don't want to live here (which is why 2 months would be max), but not sure if that matters. When they plan vacations, they dream of going to Chiapas and Oaxaca, not Disneyland. 😁

Ryan, should I conclude from your moving this to another forum that a tourist visa is what they need? That was part of my question.

This question is hypothetical for now, but I am asking because in a couple years it may not be. My wife is a Mexican citizen, AOS pending. Her parents both have preauthorized B visas, so they can visit us in the US. My question is, what exactly is possible if one or both of them would like to visit for longer periods of time to help with childcare and the like?

I don't imagine her parents wanting to stay permanently, as they have strong ties to their family and community in Mexico, work, things to manage, etc. But I can see her mother, for example, wanting to visit for a few months at a time, go back for a while, and then return again. My understanding is that it is risky to do this on a B visa, even if each trip is less than 6 months, because B visas are not intended for recurrent long visits. But could her mother really maintain permanent resident status if she's spending a lot of her time (maybe the majority) in Mexico? Her parents have no desire or need to work in the US or get other benefits of a green card, but I know they will want to see their future grandchildren and help take care of them. Is there a "right" way to accomplish this?

I've searched on this forum and elsewhere for an answer to this question but couldn't find clear information. My wife and I jointly filed I-130 (petition for alien relative) and I-485 (adjustment of status) in July 2017. She received her EAD/AP card in October 2017, and it expires this October. We're currently waiting to be notified about her AOS interview (seems like forever).

We'd like to take an international trip in December. We can't use her current AP, because it will have expired by then. It looks like current AP renewal processing time is 4-6 months, so we can't renew it in time either, and as I understand it, she can't leave the country while the renewal is pending. Do we have any options other than to hope she gets her green card in time? Are we just stuck? We can't reschedule the trip, so we'd just have to not go if we can't make it work somehow. Obviously we hope the interview will be scheduled soon, but it's hard to know when that will be.

21 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

So you'll marry but not  live together immediately?

 

It is not a good idea to have different addresses. That would go against proving this is a bona fide marriage. You can hold off until you live together to submit AOS. 

I was wondering about that as well. We don't have to get married or submit AOS exactly in the timeframe we have in mind. The issue is that her J-1 expires June 30, and the grace period to stay in the country ends July 30. We are concerned that filing for AOS after the grace period ends might be a problem, not so much because she can technically be deported but because it might jeopardize the application.

I read tonight that visa overstays of that sort are not a problem if you're married and filing for AOS, but I wasn't sure how secure that was, and it seemed better to file as soon as possible. It sounds like showing it's a bona fide marriage (via same address) is more important.

Another thing I hadn't considered until tonight is that it may take some time (not sure how long) to get a certified copy of the marriage license, so we might not be able to file for AOS before July 30 regardless.

In a couple weeks my fiancee and I will get married and we'll concurrently file I-130/I-485/I-765/etc. Her current roommates (fellow members of her J-1 visa program) are moving to a new place in a few days, but because my fiancee will be moving in with me soon, she won't be on the new lease. She'll be staying there for a little while, no more than a month or so, while we arrange for her to move in with me. (She could probably move in sooner, but several months ago I committed to letting a close friend stay with me for a few weeks this summer, that is, before we could anticipate our current plans. There isn't room for three people in my small apartment.)

Am I correct in assuming that in the paperwork we file with USCIS, my fiancee's address should reflect whatever her physical residence is at the time it's submitted? It makes me a little nervous listing an address that we can't legally demonstrate she lives at (since she won't be on the lease). Is that a concern? The alternative would be to put my address, but it would only be accurate a few weeks later.

4 hours ago, Dutchie2016 said:

I think you guys will be fine, try to get as much evidence as possible: joint bank accounts, car insurance on both of the names, utility bills.

Thanks for the information and sharing your experience! We plan to do some/all of these things in the next few weeks -- maybe before we get married or maybe after, but well in advance of the interview. She won't be able to move in with me for a few weeks after the marriage, but I could probably still put her on the lease and make the utility bills in both our names.

This whole thing is kind of a stressful process but it's also very exciting. 

8 hours ago, millefleur said:

No, they shouldn't be suspicious. People marry and adjust all the time. It's really common for people to marry and adjust. There are cases where it takes forever to adjust and you're stuck in some kind of limbo without a a green card for ages (can even take years) but this is very rare and usually just caused by bureaucratic bad luck. Most people marry and adjust without issues.

Thanks for the reassurance. So basically, we shouldn't stress too much about making sure to check all the boxes on the list and just do things in our life in the way we otherwise would?

I'm a US citizen. My fiancée and I are planning to marry and adjust in about a month, shortly before her J-1 visa expires. She is not subject to the 2-year home residency requirement, so we are able to do this. Our relationship is real and serious, but this is sooner than we had planned to get married, so I'm wondering if USCIS might be suspicious, and in general how we can present the best possible case.

I read this page listing possible red flags for USCIS. Below is a summary of how it fits our situation. I would really appreciate any advice on what, if anything, we actually need to worry about, in particular the timing of the marriage, shared address, and joint accounts/assets. Many thanks!

• No shared language. Not an issue. We actually share two languages. 
• Vast difference in age. Not an issue.
• Difference in religion. Not really an issue. I'm nominally Jewish but not observant. She's Catholic, but somewhat casual about it.
• Difference in social class or cultural background. About as minimal as it could be, given that I'm American and she's Mexican. We come from similar backgrounds in our respective countries.
• Difference in race. I'm white by US standards. Um, what race are Mexicans?
• Unequal educational background. Not an issue.
• Different addresses. We don't live together yet, but plan to do so after getting married. Should we do this as soon as possible, or can we afford to wait a month or so?
• Same house, but no actual interaction. Not an issue.
• Secret marriage. Probably not an issue. Our families and close friends will definitely know. We'd like to not announce it more widely for about a year (approximately the time we would have gotten married, had immigration issues not intervened) via a proper reception/party.
• All-too-convenient timing of marriage. Guilty as charged.
• Attempts to manufacture evidence of shared life right before the interview. How important is it to have joint accounts and assets? Should we make sure not to delay retitling cars, creating joint bank accounts, etc.? We rent, so there is no house.
• Marriage soon after you met. We've known each other for a year and a half, but we've only had a serious relationship for about three months. We feel a bit pressured in getting married this soon, but want to do it because we both feel the relationship is very special and there's only a small chance it won't work out.
• Marriage soon after a divorce. Not an issue.
• History of U.S. petitioner sponsoring other spousal immigrants. Not an issue.
• Noncitizen comes from a country with a history of immigration fraud. Well, yes.
• No children if woman is of childbearing age. Not really sure why they'd expect children already a few months after the marriage. We'll most likely have kids someday, however.
• Impoverished U.S. citizen or resident petitioner. Not an issue.
• History of crimes, fraud, or lies by either spouse. Not an issue.

4 hours ago, VJ0617 said:

I might be wrong, but if she is subject to 2-year residency requirement outside of the US (J-1 visa holders normally are), then she is supposed to fulfill that requirement or obtain a waiver prior to AOS. Just to let you know about the potential complications, so that you can do some more research before making a decision. As a first step, perhaps you can start with the Form I-485 and instructions to that form. As far as I remember, J visas are mentioned in some of the items there.

I've checked her visa and it explicitly states that she isn't subject to the 2-year residency requirement.

Thanks very much for the reassurance! I'm glad I found this site -- lots of good information and everyone is very helpful. I don't know anyone in my regular circle who can give advice on this sort of thing. OK, we'll just do the paperwork on our own and make really sure that it's correct and accurate. 

1 hour ago, Coco8 said:

If she has until July 30, you should plan to get your paperwork in with time to get the UCSIS receipt before July 30 to be on the safe side. Any time past that is an overstay.

That takes 2-3 weeks, apparently? We'd have that long if we get married right now, but because of the relative suddenness of the decision, we've been considering a prenup. Neither of us has a lot of assets right now, but both of our families have suggested we get one, mainly because it would feel like taking on less of a risk at a time we weren't originally planning to get married (more normal timeframe would have been next summer). That takes 3-4 weeks, so we'd be getting married July 15-20 and filing UCSIS paperwork as soon as possible thereafter. (We'd prep as much as we could beforehand.)

I read that when the petitioned spouse is legally in the US at the time of concurrently filing I-130 and I-485, they can legally stay while it's pending. Are you saying that is not the case prior to getting the receipt? Do you have a reference for what you said? I haven't found anything totally conclusive. It would be good to know for sure.

23 minutes ago, EG&XY said:

Are you confident that she is not subject to the 2-year home residency requirement? She may not be, but if she is then you will need a waiver or she will have to return for her home country for 2-years before being allowed to obtain legal permanent resident status. People subject to the requirement can visit, but can't become legal permanent residents until they have fulfilled the requirement or get a waiver.

Yes. I've checked on her visa and it explicitly says she is not subject to HRR / section 212(e). 

My girlfriend/fiancee and I are going to get married within the next month. I will petition for AOS on her behalf. She was previously here for two years on a J-1 visa, which is set to expire on June 30. My question is really general, but it would be very nice to get an answer from people with more experience: Is there any need for us to hire a service to assist with the paperwork, or a lawyer? We don't want any unexpected snags in the process. I can't think of anything that might be an issue, but that's kind of the point -- I don't know anything. It would just suck to delay things by months because of a silly error.

I'm very capable of reading fine print, following detailed instructions, and so on. If at all possible, we'd rather spare the expense of hiring a service to facilitate the paperwork (seems to be $1000-1500?) or a lawyer (no idea how much it might be). We'll already be spending a fair amount on various fees, not to mention she'll be out of work at least until her EAD comes through.

We'll make it work no matter what. I'm just trying to get a sense of what sort of risks there might be in doing the paperwork on our own (loss of time, denial of petition, etc.). Thanks for any help!

My girlfriend/fiancee's J-1 expires on June 30. The grace period gives her until July 30 to leave the country. We seem to have exhausted all ways to get a new J-1, so most likely we will marry and adjust before July 30. I'm wondering, though, what she'll be able to do while waiting for her EAD. She's a schoolteacher and would like to take classes to complete the requirements for a proper teaching credential. Is there anything that would bar her from doing that, related either to her expired J-1 or pending EAD (or anything else)? Many thanks for assistance!

Her original DS-2019, issued in 2015, has an end date of 2018. She did get a new DS-2019 with an end date of June 2017.

Her contact at the program has told her that the US and Mexican governments have already been notified about the shortened visa date, what's done is done, she can't get the original 2018 end date anymore, and that she'll have to go back to Mexico and wait a year. However, the person never said that this is because it's not legally allowed. The explanation really wasn't clear, and a month or two ago they were saying it could be possible.

Isn't this kind of strange, given that one school really wants her and several others have shown interest (but apparently stopped when they were told the visa wouldn't be renewed)? Why would they not be doing it?

From reading https://j1visa.state.gov/participants/current/adjustments-and-extensions/ it looks like the extension should be allowed. The original J-1 was valid for 3 years (through June 2018). It was shortened when she informed her program that she'd be returning to Mexico. Then we started dating, and her plans changed. We just want a new J-1 that lasts to when her original J-1 would last. Is this a correct interpretation, that it should be legally allowed?

I posted last week about my girlfriend, a schoolteacher who has been in the US for two years on a J-1 visa. Her current visa is about to expire, but she wants to renew it for a year. She has a job offer in hand, but she's been told by the main contact at her exchange program she must go back to Mexico for a year before she can get another J-1. I'd like to know whether this is because they can't extend her visa for legal/regulatory reasons, or for some reason they won't. In the other thread, someone mentioned that sometimes once a J-1 visa expires, you have to return to your host country for a year before you can get another J-1. (This is unrelated to the 2-year home residency requirement.)

I have a copy of her DS-2019 form, which gives her program sponsor (California Department of Education) and program number (G-5-00301). There is a bit of information at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/me/il/exchangevisit.asp but it doesn't really cover whether or not the program can grant her another J-1 if they so choose. How can I figure this out?

18 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

She should have a DS 2019. On the top it should say the category of J1 she has [Exchange visa category]. That would allow you to tell us, start a new thread just about that, or google the category and find out information. The DS 2019 also says whether she is subject to the 2 year rule, it is in the bottom part. 

Oh, yes, good point. I already looked at her DS 2019 and visa to verify that she isn't subject to the 2-year rule, but I didn't note the category. I'm seeing her in a few hours -- will take a look and start a new thread if it seems warranted. Thanks for all the help!

2 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

Oh, OK. Then she cannot extend the J-1 because of the type of J-1 she has. There are a number of classifications for J-1 (exchange student, researcher, government visitor, etc. etc.) and each one has different rules/stuff going on.

 

I think the best course of action, if you want to stay together, is to do AOS. In 3 months she would be able to work and the EAD can be expedited if she has a job offer in hand so that time could be cut down.

Is it probably pointless to get more detailed in-writing versions of the requirements for her particular J-1? I know she isn't subject to the two-year home residency requirement (have now verified that from her visa), but no idea about extending. The contact from her program hasn't been particularly helpful or clear about what's going on, but we have no reason to suspect malice.

We'd both prefer a J-1 extension with plans to get married next year, just because the relationship isn't very old, but AOS now is definitely a possibility. I don't like to rush into this sort of thing, but the more I think about it, the more I realize we have something really special that I don't want to lose. I feel more confident about it than any past relationships, including my previous marriage. It feels a bit scary to get married this soon, but maybe sometimes you just know.

Do you know how much the EAD could be expedited by? School starts in mid-August. I've been assuming it won't be possible to get it by then.

On 6/13/2017 at 1:40 PM, Coco8 said:

However, depending which type of J-1 she has, they can be extended and transferred to other institutions pretty easily.

Another clarification: her new job (the school that's already interested) would be in the same school district as the exchange that just ended. It would be the same program, same institution, etc.

On 6/13/2017 at 1:40 PM, Coco8 said:

I think the issue with the J-1 is that if you have a J-1, you have to wait a year to get another J-1. However, depending which type of J-1 she has, they can be extended and transferred to other institutions pretty easily. I have friends who have done that with no problem. But I do not know all the details on how that works. 

A clarification: when she notified her district that she'd be returning to Mexico, they shortened her J-1 to June 2017. So to stay on J-1, she'd need a new visa. They're saying she'll have to come back next year for that, but they didn't cite any one-year requirement -- just that "we've already informed the US and Mexican governments and it's now done". However, in the past weeks she's spoken to them several times and during those conversations they left open the possibility of getting a new visa immediately. So what's going on? Do you know how to determine whether she's subject to this requirement?

On 6/13/2017 at 1:40 PM, Coco8 said:

If she is in the U.S. you can AOS directly if you get married now. She is already in the U.S. so anything about "visa fraud" or "immigrant intent" is determined when she gets into the country. 

 

I think the issue with the J-1 is that if you have a J-1, you have to wait a year to get another J-1. However, depending which type of J-1 she has, they can be extended and transferred to other institutions pretty easily. I have friends who have done that with no problem. But I do not know all the details on how that works. 

Thanks. Sorry for the slow reply -- I wanted to reply but apparently was limited from doing so because I posted too much in one day, then I was out of town for a week.

The current situation with the J-1 is really frustrating. She had a job interview at a school last week and they are very interested in hiring her. However, the exchange program contact says that for her to get a new J-1 visa requires involvement of the US government and/or Mexican government, that is, the exchange program can't do it on its own, and therefore it won't happen. Does that make any sense?

3 minutes ago, CluelessAmerican said:

Thanks, that's very helpful. Is there any need to get a lawyer or other service involved to help? Or is it something that just requires diligence and attention to detail? I'm willing to do it myself but wouldn't want a small mistake to hold it up. Is there anything in particular to watch out for, for example instructions that are often misinterpreted?

In case it isn't clear, I'm talking about filing forms I-130 and I-485 ("one-step adjustment" / "concurrent filing") and the various steps after that.

16 minutes ago, Boiler said:

3 months or so, expedite may  be possible.

Thanks, that's very helpful. Is there any need to get a lawyer or other service involved to help? Or is it something that just requires diligence and attention to detail? I'm willing to do it myself but wouldn't want a small mistake to hold it up. Is there anything in particular to watch out for, for example instructions that are often misinterpreted?