SafeTravels

8 minutes ago, nepttako said:

I am very sorry for what you had been through. It could be very frustrating. You don't even have an application number if you wanted to create your USCIS online account. Is it possible to call the customer service to at least get your application number if they had? I was just curious if there was any more information in your account.

Thanks, that's a good idea, I'll ask them tomorrow.

6 minutes ago, nepttako said:

Hopefully you still have the post office receipt and the tracking number for the initial shipment. I would add this evidence in an explanation page in your second package. 

Yes, I have the tracking number which still shows it as delivered. That's not really in question though, they did get it, and rejected it. I just wish they had a tracking number for that rejection... They don't text or email either, which I thought was the whole point of e-notification. Such a flimsy system with an obvious point of failure.

Hi all,

It's been a bad day, if anyone has any guidance on this issue I would be very appreciative!
My 2-year green card expired on 12/9/2021. I filed my I-751 and it arrived in Phoenix on 11/3/2021 according to tracking. I had been waiting and waiting for even just a confirmation of receipt but nothing came. I suppose I waited too long before checking in, but I know USCIS operates slowly so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Upon calling today, I find out that my application was promptly rejected on receipt due to "improper filing" (no further feedback at all, even though I think I was pretty meticulous about the forms) but the real issue is that they claim they sent a rejection notice and returned the packaged to me, yet, nothing ever arrived. They do not track these returns, I have not changed address since filing, I had zero idea I was in this situation.

Now I'm trying to re-file, as I suppose that is my only option (is there something else I could do?) New binder, new print-outs etc. Thankfully they didn't even charge my card from the previous filing. Problem is I'm now filing late and I'm not sure if this circumstance will be seen as "good cause", or how to phrase the letter explaining it, and most of all, I have no idea what I did "improperly", so I see no reason why this might just not happen again. Maybe I won't even find out if happens again too.

So it feels like I'm taking another shot in the dark, despite having followed all the rules to the best of my knowledge and ability. I've read that I'm eligible for deportation now and need to confirm that there aren't active proceedings against me. Perhaps I need to get an immigration lawyer now. Such a nightmare. What do you make of it all?

No RFE yet one month later. Called USCIS to ask what was going on, they said there was no record of an RFE and set up an inquiry, apparently we'll get a letter of some kind by October 5th. Who knows!

2 minutes ago, missileman said:

Your life is under a microscope, to a degree, until you get a 10 year Green Card........and even longer if you apply for US citizenship.......making USCIS's job easier pays off..........

It's pretty dystopian. We already do so many things just to please USCIS while trying to live normal lives. I guess it wasn't enough.

30 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Even if it's a string on Venmo payments, why not send them to show how finances are handled between you two?  Make a document to summarize withdrawals in ones account/deposits to the other, and so on. 

 

Any will, or living will?  Who's the beneficiary on your accounts (savings/checking/investments, etc.).  

I imagine we will end up sending venmo payments, printouts of our (haphazardly organised) finances spreadsheet. We haven't written wills yet but we can, same thing for making each other beneficiaries. Does it even count if it's done after an RFE though? None of these things are intrinsic to marriage, yet we're being pushed by USCIS to do them artificially, which is more reminiscent of a fraudulent relationship anyway!

32 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Now, on another note, you say finances between you and your wife are private. Unfortunately, for immigration purposes, they're not. 

I understand it is very uncomfortable, but in this case, it is what they value the most: how you both handle money as a couple. 

I get that, what I meant by private was that it's "documented" in a way that was never intended for other people to have to understand, it's just for our personal reference. I don't know if changing that after the fact will still count as evidence.

34 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

For the RFE, you can include information from any shared membership, joint credit card, joint bank account; you could also include documents on you being the beneficiary for your wife's 401k. 

We don't have any joint checking accounts or credit cards, no need for them, happily married and financially functional without them. Are we supposed to inorganically create unused accounts just for the purposes of USCIS? To reiterate, we already had 2 binders of evidence.

4 minutes ago, Pitaya said:

deeds, bills, joint accounts, account beneficiaries

check, check, check (savings), negative.

5 minutes ago, Pitaya said:

The notion of obtaining wills, powers of attorney, durable wills is a very good bonafide, not only for now, but also in the future. 

 

This is what we'll do while we wait for the RFE to come though I suppose.


Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Just a very upsetting day.

Hi,
I'm mostly just posting to get an indication of whether our experience was normal or whether we got a particularly aggressive agent.
I came in on K1 last autumn and we married immediately before buying a house together in the spring. We had the deed for the house as part of two binders full of evidence of bona fide marriage, but the agent was unhappy that I wasn't also on the mortgage, he didn't seem to be swayed by the fact that any recent immigrant has no credit history and thus won't be able to co-apply for a mortgage. He said that he would have liked to have seen evidence of me paying my wife back for my half of the mortgage, something which we of course had not considered to bring, given that plenty marriages do not split housing costs 50/50 and that  finances between us are private, not very clearly organised and full of in jokes as venmo payment descriptions etc.

He also wanted to see the joint rental agreement for the apartment we had before bought the house, something which only exists online and which we had not printed off because we instead brought an actual letter from the rental company with both of our names instead.

Aside from this, we had joint tax returns from 2018 (he wanted to see 2019 even though it's impossible to have that already), joint gas/electricity/water/internet bills, life insurance and health insurance (he didn't understand that these were part of the same document, and would have preferred home insurance??) Photos of us together with friends and family as well as congratulatory wedding cards which he wasn't interested in.

He also wanted to see joint paperwork for our rescue dog, something which we also had not considered, but did not put both of our names on at the time as we would have only done so for artificial USCIS purposes regardless.

"All this" lead to a great amount of suspicion from him and he interviewed us separately. When I couldn't remember whether the last restaurant visit we made to was on a weekend or a weekday he asked if I had a disability or was taking any drugs which would impede my memory. I was forced to tell him that I just don't have the strongest memory about dates but that I could tell him a million things about my life with my wife. I wish I could have asked him exactly when he last went to a restaurant. We prepped so many questions together but it seems like they want you to have a photographic memory of everything you have done in the last two years. The interviews continued in a very accusatory tone, he wanted exact dates for parental visits, argued with us about what counts as the last holiday and seemed dismayed that we didn't celebrate the 4th of July or Memorial day.

At the end he said he was putting it down as an RFE. The only documentation we can send in at this point is the rental agreement for the apartment. The mortgage and the dog adoption papers only have my wife's name on them. Is the rental agreement going to convince USCIS in a way that all of our other evidence didn't?

The whole thing was hostile. I thought that if you have a legit marriage and you do reasonable prep, you have nothing to worry about. Now my future here is in question, while I continue to live my life as a loving husband following all of the rules set out for me in this country. For the record, I am 28 and she is 25, we both went to college for arts subjects, both speak English, both have similar tastes and lifestyles. The only categorical difference between us is race.

TL;DR: Am I over-sensitive or was my interviewer really hostile?
 

14 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

You don't have to wait 2 weeks.

I read on the immigration guide here and elsewhere that not waiting means the i94 might not be in the SAVE database and cause weeks of delay with manual paperwork being filed?

Would you suggest not getting married at all before SSN has been applied for? I'm not changing my name.

POE is done! Update for those who asked:

As expected, I did not get an EAD stamp. More interestingly, when I asked about it, the answer I got was "You can't get one because K1 is only a visa for you to marry, you will have to go home again afterwards and apply for another visa anyway". Needless to say I was pretty dumbfounded as this is utterly wrong (imagine waiting a year for K1 then going home after 90 days and then waiting another 18 months for CR1!) but I didn't want to make this any more difficult than it had to be, so after getting no clear response to my question about the temporary 90-day EAD I didn't press the point with the CPB officer and just blithely nodded along and said "hmm." 

I was sent to secondary (officer was unsure about whether K1s get sent or not, a colleague told her they do), which lasted about 3 minutes, the secondary officer opened my packet, thumbed through without looking at anything, told me I have 90 days to get married and sent me on my way. The process was painless but I was pretty surprised that the first officer knew nothing about the K1/AOS process and confidently gave false information.

Now we're getting married tomorrow, waiting for 2 weeks before applying for the SSN and then AOS after that!

Thanks again all, question answered.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. However, nobody has directly addressed my question from the beginning: is it suspicious if I ask for EAD?

Things that I know:

• Nobody has gotten EAD at POE in recent years with K1.
• It's probably futile to ask for EAD.
• You have to file for EAD with AOS if you do K1 and want long term work authorisation.
• K1 visa holders are eligible for EAD but the application would take longer than the 90 days the visa is for, and thus it makes more sense to do it with AOS.
• CR1 grants EAD on arrival as part of the green card.
• CR1 is slower for entry but faster for permission to work.
• I made the right choice of visa for my priorities, and am not confused about CR1 or AOS.

Things I do not know:

• Whether asking for EAD at the border is suspicious and thus harms my chance of entry.

1 hour ago, Roel said:

No harm in asking, but you're not getting in. 😛

I should hope I am getting IN! Although that's kind of what my original question was about: does asking hurt my chances of being admitted into the country?
 

1 hour ago, Roel said:

Should have done CR1

EAD is important but not as important as having POE as soon as possible, when we applied it seemed that K1 was the fastest way of being together. 

1 minute ago, mushroomspore said:

They don't do those anymore or else everyone on the K1 forum would be talking about it.

Sure, that makes sense. But do you think there is any harm in asking or would it be suspicious?

I know, I'll be doing that as soon as possible. I'm just wondering about the 90-day EAD stamp that people were getting a few years back at JFK.

Hi everyone,
So my flight is booked for next week (k1 visa was delivered a few days ago!) and I'll be entering the US at JFK airport. In the past, I know many people got a 90-day EAD stamp when entering there, but that doesn't seem to be the case any longer. I was wondering if asking (politely) for the stamp would get me into trouble? I know it's a long shot but if the system is reasonable then there shouldn't be any harm in asking, right? I don't want to give the impression that I will work illegally though. Thank you!

Sorry yes, I meant received date.

Just to clarify, our notice date is 4th of Jan, which is why we thought we're January filers. Our submitted date is 28th of Dec, which @kennharv  just told us is the date the scans are based on. In any case, only a week difference between those dates, including holidays!

4 minutes ago, lilit829 said:

Old website or new website? 

My paper copy!

11 minutes ago, Suny & LeLe said:

are you 100% EXTRA percent sure?? because I figured out your WAC number and it's in the December 28 dates. UNLESS I AM WRONG. but the WAC number that i type in says that i was approved today.

My notice date for NOA 1 is in January though. I’m confused?!

6 minutes ago, Suny & LeLe said:

okayy, okayy....I am getting tired of getting fooled hhehe and having my heart get excited and then crushed in seconds......IS THIS A REAL JANUARY APPROVAL OR YOU ARE PLAYING WITH MY HEART HAHA?    

YES! NOA1 was January 4th!

My electronic and paper copy of NOA1 have different dates, so I haven't been totally sure which one to base it off of - BUT I've been mostly following the app. According to the app, today marks 170 days! It's bittersweet because it feels like a small victory making it this far but of the course the wait has been tiring.

We have a visit in ONE WEEK. Luckily, it's quite a long visit so we have our fingers crossed we'll receive NOA2 while we're together! 

Hang there everyone, we get closer and closer as each day passes.

Fellow January filers, I can't believe how quickly my date keeps moving up! When I got NOA1, my predicted NOA2 date was the last week of July and now I'm between July 9th and July 15th! I feel like it will be no time before I'm seeing JUNE! 

Thank you both!