Jun2580

3 minutes ago, Kiolas said:

Hi Jun2580,

I suggest to bring to the interview all your statements of savings account. I understand your concern with low balance. However, the balance is not very important. It is not zero, which is a good thing. You can explain to the USCIS officer during the interview the situation if any questions arise. 

 

In addition, USCIS will look into the length of existence of the account. You can request from the bank the letter (if you have time before the interview). Ask the bank to specify when the account has been established and to list both of your names as account holders.

We created the bank account when he moved in, so it has been there for more than a year, just as long as our marriage minus the first month when we lived away from each other. 

Since then, we rarely put money in it, and when we did, it was mostly spent by him. 

So, not only is the balance pretty low, but also we don't really have many transactions with that account. (Mostly him withdrawing... and we both add like $50 - $300 occasionally). Should I still take it with us to the interview?

I am on F1 working on OPT, and I got married to my 3+ year partner. We have been married for over a year now, so we have been together for almost 4-5 years.

We recently applied for AOS and we should be getting an interview soon. I am taking my lawyer with me too.

Now, I have a question about documents I should take with us to the interview as evidence. After marriage, except for the first month, we have been living together. (I had to move to a different state for my job, so we lived in different states for a month until he moved in with me).

We have lease rental agreement. He is covered in my car insurance, and insurance from the company I work for too. All insurance cards I have list both of our names as spouses. but I am concerned about our joint bank account.

We both have our own bank account for checking, and we have a joint saving account. But he is type of person who lives paycheck to paycheck, so he doesn't really put money in the saving account. I, myself, am completely opposite and I don't spend much money, but only on necessities. But my mom spent a ton of money on my education in the US, so I need to pay her back first. So I am saving all my money in my own checking account. I sometimes put money in the saving account too, but when I do that, my husband spends it without thinking. He has this bad habit of spending money even when he is broke. So I personally don't put much money in the joint saving account. Right now, the balance in the saving account is less than $100. There used to be a lot more, but 80-90% of it was spent by him.

So even though we do have a joint saving bank account, neither of us really contributes to it. (My husband makes little money and lives paycheck to paycheck, plus he has a habit of over-spending. And I have to save money for mom to pay her back, and also I dont want that saved money spent by him if I put the money in the saving account). In cases like this, I don't think we can submit this document as "joint bank account" because our assets/incomes are not really blended together.

Is this going to be a critical reason for our AOS interview to fail?

3 minutes ago, DPP123 said:

You are a relative.  A son is a relative.  Hope that helps.  

Thank you. I always thought "relative" means cousins, aunt, uncle etc... but not including any immediate family members like daughter/son, siblings etc.

I live in the US and work here. I am married to a US citizen and currently in process of AOS. 

I am the only person in my family or relatives who live in the U.S. Within two months, my mother is visiting me in the U.S. and this is going to be her first visit to the U.S. in her life. 

Since we are from a country with Visa Waiver Program, I am applying for ESTA on behalf of her. Now, this ESTA application page is asking for A U.S. Point of Contact Information, and the help says "A U.S. Point of Contact may be a friend, relative, or business associate. If you do not have a point of contact, please enter the name, address, and telephone number of the location where you will be staying (e.g. a hotel name). You may also enter UNKNOWN."

I have not booked any hotel for us yet, because we will be moving around when she arrives here. She will be here for about a week, and I already purchased the round-trip plane ticket for her. 

The help explanation does not include "a family member", so I am not sure if I can add my contact there (I am her son).

Should I put my contact information anyway, or put UNKNOWN? She does not have any friend, relative or business associate in the U.S.

3 minutes ago, wantsasheep said:

 

There's about a 11-12% rejection rate per USICS website for family based I-485 applications. It does vary per field office. What's yours?

And within that 11-12% rejection rate are incomplete applications, wrong fees, insufficient income, crimes, communicative diseases, and fraudulent marriage. 

My interview will be held in Louisville, KY.

13 minutes ago, T_P said:

Yes, there are cases where they interview together and cases where they interview separate. In my case was together but there are stories here from people who interviewed separate.

 

My answer to your question is simple. If you relationship is legit, you have nothing to worry about. 

 

They normally ask for facts of your lives, where did you get married, when did you guys meet etc etc etc....I`m sure you both know all of this  and important dates if that comes up. Bring pictures, proof of wedding, engagement, family photos etc. Look at my review and it will give you an idea.

 

Dont worry.

May I ask which state you live in? It only took you about 5 months before the interview after the applications received.

It took most of my friends about a year from the application till the interview. Your case seems faster.

Also may I ask what you brought in to the interview as a proof of bona fide marriage?

25 minutes ago, T_P said:

Interesting situation here. I apologize in advance but since you post your concern I feel like I can post something I believe is the right thing to do. To me I feel like you are focusing on getting the green card rather than resolving the situation with your wife. 

I understand what you are saying. The thing is, we cannot change our interview date, or keep putting it off. 

The point is, I am wanting to keep trying harder until we can happily meet each other halfway (as a married couple, not divorcing), and get a healthier relationship with less arguments and fights. But it will take some time. 

If we just get denied our application when we are still working on fixing the relationship between me and my spouse, I will even lose the chance to do so, and my spouse will also lose the chance to keep trying with me, because the rejection means me getting kicked out of the country. 

I am international, married to a US citizen, and we will have our green card interview in a few months. I have many international friends from all over the world, who went through the same, and all of them got their green card with no problem. They all told me that their interview was simple; they all went to the interview room together with their US spouse, and the interviewer only asked them simple questions like "Where did you all meet for the first time?" "When did you get married?" "How long have you been together" "When is your spouse's birthday" and so on.  The thing is, they all got interviewed together with their spouse in the same room.  They all had their interview in different states in the US.

So I was thinking this was going to the common way of the interview. Now I live in a state different from any of my friends, and I have my immigration lawyer who prepared all documents for me, and he is also coming to the interview with me and my spouse. But he told me that at the interview they will split me and my spouse and have an interview separately asking the same questions, and check if our answers will match. Not because we might look suspicious, but because that is what they do to all married couples who will have the interview in this specific USCIS in our state.

Is that true that in some USCIS, they will split you and your spouse REGARDLESS of whether the marriage seems genuine or fake? What if some answers don't match? for example, "What is your spouse's favorite food" or something like this is very difficult to make answers match, if your spouse likes multiple dishes. Or in this kind of split interview, do they mostly ask a question that can have only one answer? Such as "When is your spouse's birthday?", "Where do you all meet?", "When did you get married?" etc?

I am a foreigner, who is married to a US citizen. We have applied for AOS from my F1 status to permanent residency status.

I over-worry about everything, and I am very stressed out and scared of my case getting rejected even though I haven't even gone to the interview yet. 

My spouse and I were together for more than 3 years before our marriage, and we both are the first spouses to each other. We are close in age, and I have many photos of us from the relationship.

We texted each other almost every day throughout our relationship, which I am planning to take screenshots of to bring to the interview. We got married over a year ago, so we have been together for more than 4-5 years now, and I just got my fingerprints taken for the AOS.

However, as time went on, we have seen more differences between us after living together, and we fight or argue more than when we were just an unmarried couple. Although we are not thinking about a divorce, we are not a very "lovey-dovey" couple like we used to. But we still live together, have a life together under the same roof, and we always sleep together and so on. Of course we got married truthfully in love. 

Could this "us being not really lovey-dovey" or "us seeming not very very close" affect our interview result?  We are of course trying to get things better, but there is no guarantee that we can go back to our "honeymoon period" when we were loveydovey when we were just dating. 

Also, does anyone know where I can see the statistics of marriage-based green card rejection/approval rate? I know it won't help anything, but I want to know if the AOS through marriage is more often approved in general, than rejected.

22 minutes ago, Damara said:

Someone recently posted an RFE they got for the 864 with F1 income. I cant seem to find the thread though... In the RFE (picture was posted) it lists visa classifications you can use to meet the guidelines for the 864. F1 is NOT listed. So its up to the officers discretion if they want to consider your F1 income. So keep that in mind. You may need a co sponsor.

 

Anyway you are reading into things. Its usually good to be very literal with USCIS stuff but not for this. The word "source" doesnt literally mean the same company or employer. It means more like "job source". So if you are an electrical engineer employed at Acme co you will continue your source of income as an electrical engineer for Ace Co. 

This is not what my lawyer said =/. They said on F1, if you are still a student and say, you have an on-campus part-time job, where you make more than 125% of poverty guideline, then you CANNOT sponsor yourself, and therefore need a joint sponsor, because on-campus part-time job is very unstable, and you can see its end (when the semester is over, OR when you graduate). However, if you are on F1 and working on OPT or STEM OPT, you should be able to sponsor yourself. 

Also, let's say I applied with my current income and without having a joint sponsor, because this is what my untrustworthy lawyer is thinking about doing for me. If I ever get a RFE for I864's, is this the end of the world (like I will forever lose my chance to obtain a GC)? OR do they give me a change to find a joint sponsor (which I have already found) and send them additional documents (like the joint sponsor's tax returns etc)? Do I need to re-apply from scratch with all fees again? 

45 minutes ago, arken said:

So you paid a bunch to your lawyer who wouldn’t advise you what’s i864 ask for? 

 

You just need a statement from your current employer, probably in company letterhead, mentioning you will remain employed after you get your GC with at least your current income income. Something like that. 

This lawyer, surprisingly, had many reviews on Google and Facebook (in my small city, I tried to research most of immigration lawyers, and I chose the one with the highest reviews with the highest review counts). 

I paid about $2,500 JUST FOR THE LAWYER. Now I still have to pay for I485 and I130. Then I was collecting documents my lawyer told me to collect, and this question popped into my head. He only said "You do not need to worry about it. You can change jobs while the case is pending, if you want to." but he never told me I need a statement from my employer. 

[EDITED:] My lawyer only asked me to submit 

(1) my (intended immigrant) current employment letter 

(2) my USC spouse's current employment letter

(3) Most recent tax return (which we filed together for 2017, and we together earned a few times more income than 125% poverty guideline, in 2017) 

Initially I was going to use a joint sponsor (my US citizen's mom said she is happy to help me out), but my lawyer said since I am already working on STEM OPT and I have enough income, I can use my income for I864 purposes, and that way I do not need to have a joint sponsor. 

I asked my employer if they could write me a letter, and they said "remain employed after you get your GC" is too vague and refused to write one for me. Technically speaking, 3 years after me obtaining GC is still "after I get my GC". My employer basically wants to make sure HOW LONG AT LEAST after I get my GC, I will need to remain employed by them. They seem like they are not going to fire me, but at the same time, they cannot promise anything about, say, 3 years from now.  

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Sounds like it is not an option for you.

You are not helping... I am asking how to provide that evidence, or what is considered evidence here.

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Sounds like you can not prove this.

There is no way, BUT I864 is asking for the evidence still. I864 instruction says "you must provide evidence that his/her income will continue from the current source after obtaining lawful permanent resident status".

It does not mention HOW, or what evidence they want. I am at a loss.

18 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What employer would state they will never fire you?

Exactly. I know they wouldn't, and hence my post.

How would you even prove that your income will continue from the same source, when you would never know what would happen in the future.

1 minute ago, arken said:

Wow, you are taking it too seriously. 

It just means USCIS wanna know that your current employer is willing to keep you employed after you get your GC.

 

Chill out, you can change your job any time you want, before or after you get your GC.

If you change your job before your GC interview (if you are called for interview), you might need to take new i864 and new letter from your new employer that you employment will continue after you get your GC.

I am a worrywart, and I do not want to mess with USCIS, because to me USCIS is like "OH I can kick you out of this country any time I want". 

What do you mean by "your current employer is willing to keep you employed after you get your GC" though? Do I need a letter from them stating something like "oh this guy will NEVER get fired"?

My lawyer only told me to prepare a regular employment letter, which only states a) my current wage, b)my job title, c)employment dates (start date through present), but is this enough? Do I need any other proof from my employer?

What does "Income must continue from the same source after he or she obtains permanent residency" mean?

I got married to a US citizen. He does not make enough income to reach the poverty line's 125%. I am the intended immigrant who is on F1, and I currently work on STEM OPT (I still have more than 20 months before my EAD expires).

I make a few times more income than what the poverty line's 125% indicates, and so I am planning to use my income to sponsor myself, because I do not want to ask his family to be my joint sponsor, unless I really need to.

Now in I864 instruction it says "Intended immigrant can use his or her income, but the income must continue from the same source AFTER HE OR SHE OBTAINS PERMANENT RESIDENCY.", and I am very confused and scared of this line.

Does this mean, I can never quit my job or change my job? How long do I have to stay in the same position? How long after I obtain the green card, do I have to keep working for my current company?

I have a lawyer, and I already paid all the fee, and he gave me a very vague answer. He just told me "oh you don't need to worry about it. and you can change jobs if you want." but I am not convinced by what my lawyer said because that is clearly not what the I864 instruction seems to be saying, to me.

1) Can anyone tell me what this means? can I change my jobs while the case is pending? How long do I have to stay in my position after getting a GC?

2) How can I even prove that I will never get fired or lose my job? No one knows what will happen in the future, and I don't even think there are many employers who willingly write a letter saying "He/she will NEVER lose this job" or "He/she will be employed indefinitely" etc.

3) What will happen if I get to use my income, and I get laid off / switch jobs BEFORE the interview or getting the GC? Does it lead to an automatic rejection on my case? 

I wish I could get a new lawyer, but I already paid in full the lawyer fee, which was a few thousand dollars, and I don't want to let this all go to waste...

1 hour ago, Coco8 said:

Yes, but sometimes cases fall through the cracks. It does not mean it will be rejected.

I am assuming it can happen sometimes. There is an automatic 180 day extension too while the case is pending. I am trying to believe this automatic extension was set because it is possible for USCIS to take longer than 3 months to make a decision even if you have not done anything wrong.

By the way, do you know what will happen to Grace Period if the case is rejected? In my case, my initial OPT expired about 2 months ago, and I am on this 180 day extension. Assuming USCIS didn't make a finding of my F-1 status violation, do you think I will still qualify for some grace period if they ever reject my case? Or would they ask me to leave immediately after the denial notice? 

6 hours ago, Coco8 said:

You should either call USCIS or my a infopass appointment at the nearest USCIS. You can ask once you have been waiting 75 days or more. 

I did, and they said it can take a while, sometimes more than 3 months. But all of my friends got their extension around 80th day. I don't know why I am not getting mine even after 3 months. 

I am also confident that I did not commit any immigration-related crimes. I entered the US at the inspection, and they let me in. I never worked illegally. I only had an on-campus part time job. 

I do have a science diploma, which I sent the copy of to USCIS upon applying for the extension. My company is E-verified and my job is related to what I learned in school. I am so concerned =( 
 

Hi. I graduated from a university in the US in a science major, and I have been working for a company as a scientist on OPT. 

My initial OPT expired on January 3rd. I applied for STEM OPT extension earlier and it was accepted by USCIS on November 20th and I got a I-797 receipt notice soon after they received my application.

My DSO and USCIS website says I qualify for automatic 180 day extension after my initial OPT expired because I applied for STEM OPT in time (before it expired) and the case is pending.

However, it has been more than 3 months since they received my STEM OPT application, and yet they haven't made a decision. Why does it take so long? I thought they would make a decision within 60-90 day range.

I have been working on the 180 day extension, but I am worried if they are going to reject my case because it has been taking more than 90 days. 

Does taking longer than 3 months usually mean I have a higher chance of rejection? How long did you all's STEM OPT application before USCIS's decision?

I applied to STEM OPT earlier last week by mailing the documents to the USCIS office. I had a tracking number, and it says it arrived at the destination last Friday morning.

I included G-1145 form because I wanted an email notice saying they received my documents. It has been almost 3 days since the arrival, but I still haven't got an email notice. 

How long does it usually take since document's arrival before they email/text you telling you they have received the package?

Also, how long does it take for them to mail the I797 receipt notice? I will need to submit it to my employer to maintain my employment. 

G-1145 form says "We will send the e-Notification within 24 hours after we accept your application". Does this mean, the package has arrived, but they did not accept my application? what does this even mean?

Can a USCIS interview officer be discriminatory against same sex couples?

I am a gay foreign national, and married to a US citizen. We are going to apply for a marriage-based green card, and we are aware that there will be an interview with a USCIS officer.

My question is, is it possible for the interviewer/USCIS officer to have prejudice or biased opinions against gay couples?

Is it possible to get denied our green card OR get treated more strictly than heterosexual couples solely because of our sexuality and the USCIS officer's prejudice?

To apply for STEM OPT extension, I am filling I-765 form.

Since a lot of websites and my school recommend that I should type the form, rather than hand-write it, I downloaded the form from USCIS website and

I am typing to fill it on PDF form.  However, this downloaded PDF does not let you use symbols such as a hyphen (-), comma (,) or period (.). 

My company is E-verified, and the company name is in format of ABCDEF GHIJK, Inc.

There is a comma and a period. But in the downloaded I-765, it gives me errors if I try to type those symbols, so all I can get is ABCDEF GHIJK INC. 

Does this affect their decision to approve or reject my case? 

I am applying for STEM OPT Extension and I need to fill I-765 form. 

On the back side of I-765, there is a box for "Alien Registration Number or Form I-94 Number".

Is this Form I-94 Number same as Admission (I-94) Record Number (11 digit numbers) listed at the top of Most Recent I-94 from the official website?

Because they use different names I am confused, but this is the only number I can find on Form I-94.

Can anyone please help!

Does getting an RFE affect their final decision?

I am an F-1 student and got married to a US citizen. We have been collecting required documents for AOS through marriage. 

One of the main documents is Marriage Certificate. My spouse and I got married in a county court, and we know it is official. However, we did not receive a marriage certificate after marriage. 

All we have is a marriage license signed by the judge who married us. We got married in Texas, and we called the county court to request the certificate for our marriage, and they said "In the state of Texas, marriage certificate IS marriage license, and they are the same piece of paper".

So they said I cannot get a "Marriage Certificate" from them because our signed "Marriage License" is a marriage certificate. 

After the marriage in Texas, we moved to Kentucky for our jobs. 

When applying for AOS, can we just use our marriage license as marriage certificate? IS there anyone who went through a similar situation? Can anyone please give us advice? Thanks!