Jun2580

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Income is not a factor for RoC.

So basically I can get any job now regardless of how low or high the income is going to be (even below 125% poverty guide line), or I can even stay unemployed for the next years, technically speaking, and still apply for RoC no problem as long as this marriage is bona-fide?

2 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Yes, you can quit if you want to because you have your conditional greencard now. You are pretty much reading this to in depth because you can use your income because you are already here in the USA. What that is referring to is if a immigrant is using their income while they are being petitioned abroad. Since you were already working here in the USA then you are good because you are already working and probably can find a decent job in a short amount of time. 

So, do you mean, I can now do whatever I want when it comes to jobs? Like let's say, I quit my current job, and stay unemployed for one year, and I then get a job at Walmart, making way below 125% of poverty guide line. Assume that my US spouse also won't be making more than 125% of it. Is it NOT going to affect our case to remove the condition 2 years from now? (Provided that we don't rely on any governmental aid, such as food stamp etc).

How long does the intending immigrant have to keep working for the same company if he or she used his or her own income for AOS based on marriage with the US spouse?

I was an F-1 student and was working under STEM OPT with an income that was over 125% of poverty guide line. On the other hand, my American spouse hasn't made enough income by himself.

In order to do AOS, we used my income from STEM OPT for I-864 purposes and we got approved. I got my (conditional) green card recently. I have been working for the same company for almost 2 years.

Now my question is, how long do I have to keep working for this company? Can I just quit anytime and change my job? Does the unemployment period affect my conditional green card?

I ask because I-864 says "If the intending immigrant is your spouse, his or her income can be counted regardless of current residence, but it must continue from the same source after he or she becomes a lawful permanent resident;"

I am very confused. My current source of income is the company I currently work for. Then, does this mean I cannot quit??? Can anyone clarify this, please? How long does the income have to come from this company I work at?

4 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

See...? Congratulations! Now remember that you will have to file for removal of conditions 90 days before your green card expires. The table of contents on this thread is your guide. 

 

When you ask your lawyer why he/she did that, do mention what the instructions state on page 3/12. And say that it's on page 3/12. Lawyers really need to stop doing this to justify their fees. 

 

I would also submit reviews anywhere you can submit one. 

 

All the best,

 

USC4SPOUSE

Thank you!! You guys really helped me a lot and helped me go through this stress! 

Surprisingly, he had soooo many good reviews on multiple websites, and that is why I decided to go with them. However, the service I got wasn't really ideal, judging from everyone's comments on here.

I will do mention what the I-130 says under the required documents, and ask why he recommended I bring them to the interview. 

And Thank you for the I-751 guide!

57 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

I have to ask whether you front-loaded your evidence of bona fide marriage with your AOS filing. This happens often when people do not send anything but the marriage certificate. (Not k-1 cases)

No. My lawyer insisted that we should send only marriage certificate as proof of our relationship. So we brought the rest of proofs like insurance, photos, bills together etc at the interview. 

I don't understand why my lawyer did that, because this seems way harder.  and I have lost faith in my lawyer and I am feeling stupid for spending money on him.

Thanks all for keeping telling me it'll be fine. I feel so much better now. 

Btw, out of the 30+ questions asked, I got 5-6 different answers from my spouse, but I guess it was okay?

Apparently it seems to be a big mistake that we didn't send the bona fide proofs with the application.. 

My interview was 2 days ago and my online status still hasn't been updated...

35 minutes ago, Visitor User said:

Really? Extra fee? Never heard of this from any lawyer before. Not my lawyer. How much is the charge anyway?

Yeah he said the regular lawyer fee to prepare the AOS documents was $1000 and then if I want to take him to the interview that's an extra charge of $250. 

1 minute ago, ColoradoBeauty said:

My immigration lawyer, who happens to be a friend, quoted me $1000. 

Actually the same. I browsed around to find an affordable lawyer. And most I could find quoted me $3000+, which I thought was stupid. 

Then I found one for $1000, so I decided to go with him. And his law office had many good reviews on Google and Facebook, with lots of comments, so I had no doubt about him. But then this all happened. 

1 minute ago, Visitor User said:

Was your lawyer present at the interview?

No. My lawyer said it is an extra fee to take him to the interview, but since (1)I am not from a red-flag country, (2)I have no immigration violation in the past, (3)I have no criminal/arrest history, and (4)We have a lot of proof for bona fide marriage, he said I should be alright without him, and he said it is not worth a few hundred dollars.

15 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Simply explained: You send proof of bonafide marriage with the i-130 (the petition), not the i-485 (AOS). We're just assuming that you and your spouse sent in BOTH i-130 and i-485 at the same time, meaning the package should've had proof in it.

And my lawyer insisted I should bring the bona fide proof at the interview... Sigh 

If sending marriage-evidence documents at the time of application is NOT required, then I don't know why I had to go through this. If it was required, and I didn't send them with the application, that would have made more sense.

Other that what I mentioned earlier, I can think of another possible reasons that I had to go through this separate, long interview, and I want you all's opinion.

My frequent visit to the US in the past might have affected my case?

 In 2012 summer, I came to the US on J-1 visa for a year. I studied abroad in the US, while I was a student back in my home country's university. I did not get the 2-year rule.

Then, after I left in 2013 summer due to the completion of my J-1 program, I came back to the US a month later and stayed on ESTA for about 2 months at my friend's house. I did this because I started wanting to study more in the US after the J-1 program, and I wanted to find out which school would be good for me. I visited multiple universities and colleges in person, to make a decision on which school I should apply to for my 2nd bachelor's degree.  But, I guess the reason doesn't really matter, in the eye of immigration. 

Then, I graduated from my home country's university about 6 months after I left the US after the 2 months stay. Then I came back to the US again at the beginning of 2014 to start my 2nd degree's program. Then I graduated with the second Bachelor's degree, and then I have been working on OPT and STEM OPT.

The overall flow is like this. 

2012 summer - 2013 summer: 1-year stay on J-1

2013 summer (one month after leaving the US on J-1): 2-month stay on ESTA

2014 beginning: got accepted by a school and came back on F-1 

2016 fall: graduated and started looking for a job for OPT

2017: started working on OPT

2018 spring: started working on STEM OPT, during which I applied for AOS with my spouse

While I was a student between 2014-2016, I visited my home country multiple times, and other than that I-20's signature being expired, the immigration officer easily let me in when I showed my visa and I-20s, so I never thought about this until now. 

Do you think this continuous stay in the US might have been the cause? This is not a violation, but I am now thinking this is a "RED FLAG"

1 hour ago, TNJ17 said:

You’re not required to send marriage evidence with aos package. This is why there is a ROC after 2 years. A recently married couple won’t have much in terms of marriage evidence. Most AOS interviews are just a formality and only last a couple of questions and are not separated. They separate couple and bombard them with questions like yours when they suspect fraud. None of the reasons you have stated here are cause for fraud suspicion. They definitely saw something on your file that made them suspicious about your relationship. Most people who get lawyers for this late into the process have complicated cases. You say you have no complications so why did you use a lawyer if you don’t mind us asking? The answer to your scruitinity may be in why you used a lawyer. I feel like we haven’t gotten the full story here. 

Okay, first let me tell you guys that I worry a lot, and this is my nature. If you just visit my profile, you will understand that I worry about everything, simply because I ask so many small questions on here.

I don't want to miss any single thing, and it also comes from my OCD. Even though I REALLY do not have any immigration issue in the past (except that I got sent to secondary inspection at an airport when I was on F-1 because the signature on my I-20 had expired. I immediately sent in the required document and I got a newly approved I-20), no criminal or divorce history whatsoever, I did not want to make a mistake on AOS packet. My OCD is worse when it comes to an official document that can affect my immigration and life. Therefore, I wanted a "safer" way to prepare all the AOS documents, and so I hired a lawyer. 

And I believe there is nothing wrong with hiring an immigration lawyer even if you have no problems in the past, and a lot of my friends did the same. (They had no criminal history, divorce record, or immigration violation, and they still hired a lawyer JUST IN CASE).

2 hours ago, Boiler said:

I simply do not believe there is an office that puts every applicant through a Stokes. Stokes is going to take a lot more time than is allocated for a normal interview. And if there was one I would certainly seen it mentioned here with a big WARNING.

The interviewer told me "Keep collecting marriage evidence so you can remove the condition in about 2 years" right after the interview. I am hoping this means a "pass"...

After reading all the comments here, I am getting more and more depressed how my lawyer advised us not to send any marriage related documents at the time of application. 

We were only asked to give the lawyer the copy of marriage license and our tax returns. And also the some other basic info needed to prepare the documents. He then told us that they don't need us to give them any marriage based documents to prove the bona fide marriage, but instead we will take them with us to the interview. 

And he told us this is what the lawyer has done always, and that USCIS in Louisville KY does separated interview..

Now I feel stupid for spending a lot of money for this lawyer, and then going through a long, stressful, separated interview most others who got interviewed at the same USCIS didn't go through. 

We made about 4 mistakes out of 30 questions asked, and I am very scared what the result will be. 

And i still don't understand why other couples ahead of us got separated as well. I am all confused now. 

5 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

OP what country is the foreign spouse from?

I'm the beneficiary and I'm from Japan. My lawyer even told me japanese people usually have it done easily cuz Japan isn't in the list of red flag countries. 

4 hours ago, Prof_Q said:

It says under Filed For that you were under F1 status. Perhaps they also wanted to know that your marriage is genuine and that you're not using it to stay in the US. 

I believe that a lot of couples do that though. 

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

1) Same-sex has nothing to do with it.

2) Not a reason for a stokes interview...the public charge concern is a separate issue.

3) This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

1) Yeah I want to hope that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated the same way in immigration. But USCIS officers are also human beings with all kinds of emotions and opinions, and I dont think everyone is in favor of same sex marriage. You know what I mean? So I think it can be possible that some officers who are against it might unconsciously treat same-sex couples more strictly than opposite-sex couples. 

3) Yeah this could be it, but the thing is, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of me at the USCIS interview waiting room, and they all got separated too. and I doubt all of them used the same lawyer as we did. and so I think separated interview is what they do here regardless. 

And I still don't understand why she refused to take photos if she needed the proof of bona fide marriage.

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Stokes is certainly not normal, any reason they would have suspicions?

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

8 minutes ago, geowrian said:

The separated interview questions.

Maybe a fairly recent policy there? It's not the norm in general (https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=&cty=Louisville+KY&dfilter=5).

This interview was VERY stressful... My officer didn't show a single smile during our interview. Every time I answered her question, she either put a check mark on my spouse's answer when our answers matched, OR writing down what I said when our answers were different. 

What surprised me was, she didn't take any of our photos. She asked for the evidence of our relationship and marriage, so I turned in a bunch of papers I collected, like insurance, bills, lease, receipts, old texts, and our pics. But she bluntly said "I don't need to see the photos" and refused to take them!! I don't know why. 

5 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Definitely not the norm. But glad you're taking it so well. Most people would've freaked out considering it's not that common to get a stokes interview.

I am freaking out right now. Since my lawyer had told me about the separated interview being highly possible in Louisville Kentucky USCIS, I wasn't surprised when we got called in separately. But then after reading all comments on here telling me how my marriage was suspected, I am freaking out... because I haven't done anything wrong, and same for my spouse. And we have been together for 5 years now with a bunch of evidence.  I am scared now... but the officer told me after the interview that I should keep collecting more documents like I did for this interview, in order to remove the condition in 2 years. I am taking this as I am getting a conditional GC, but I am not sure because my case status hasn't been updated yet.

27 minutes ago, NovaDC said:

They didn't separate us. The interview took 15-20  minutes. They didn't say i was approved right away. I just looked into my USCIS status online and said that I was approved. And 7 days after my interview i got my green card.This was in Norfolk, VA. 

How long did it take before the USCIS status got updated?

23 minutes ago, geowrian said:

That's called a stokes interview and is not typical. It could be random or it could be because they suspect fraud.

I wouldn't be surprised if IOs at some offices do it more often than others, but it's still not a norm.

Which part of the interview I went through is "stoke interview"? Like how they separated us? or the number of questions asked?

the number of questions, yes even I thought too many, but separated interview is a norm here in Louisville Kentucky, or at least that is what my lawyers told me. And I saw some couples ahead of us getting called in separately as well.