northwest-boys

We are a few days away from sending our AOS packet after getting married after Thanksgiving (K-1 visa), and we've been back and forth on what we should be doing about our recent address change.

A little after new years we moved into a friend's apartment so that we didn't have to live with my new in-laws while we wait until we can afford a place of our own (once I get EAD and find a job we will be looking to move). I know I have to file a change of address with the USCIS (within 10 days, eep!) and I'm going to do that before we send off our application as I believe its simpler doing it that way (only have to file it online).

My question is, will this change of address cause us any issues? For example, I've read a lot about people needing joint leases as proof of living together when they go to the AOS interview. We plan by that point we will have our own place and be on that lease together, but will it be an issue that we weren't on the lease at this current address and are just staying as guests. While we will be listing our new address on the AOS application, we are also keeping my in-laws as our mailing address for the application, as well as other non-visa things (e.g medical insurance, payslips, etc). Will USCIS take any issue with this? I don't want to arouse any unnecessary suspicion.

I'm thinking everything should be fine but, erring on the side of caution, I thought I'd post this for peoples' thoughts on this, am I still missing something? Any help or information anyone have to add would be great!

No worries, the medical is a really stressful part of the process, especially when it comes to getting as much documentation together as possible.

The email from Visa Medicial specifically asks for this;

9. If you have any significant/ongoing/previous medical conditions please ensure that you bring a report from your GP/Specialist/Consultant regarding this; including, medication, prognosis, management etc.

I can't speak for you and your situation but the councelling is something you could ask your GP to mention.

The Doctor at the medical was really nice and explained to me why they specifically query mental health issues in applicants. They're concerned about allowing in people who are currently suffering from mental health conditions that are so serious they would bring them to harm others. They include depression and suicide because they're concerned about people taking their own lives and wanting to harm others in the process. So really they're only concerned with very serious cases.

Their concern is how serious is the illness, how long ago was it, how likely is it to cause future issues, etc. Again, I don't know your full situation but from what you have mentioned and what is included in your GP letter I can't say there's much to worry about and you're covering a lot of their concerns right there. Specific medications or treatment might be something you wanna make sure you've got from your doctor in writing just to be on the safe side (I'm guessing because information about the medication is a really good indication of how mild or serious your case was and that will put them at ease).

Give that next trip to the GP a shot and take it from there, but you've already got most of it together by the sounds of it.

Hi! Does anyone know what situations you need to update the DS-160 for (as in, create a whole new one to submit).

We've some minor changes since i last submitted the DS-160 but I don't want to resubmit the whole form again unless it really is necessary.

Everything on the form was 100% correct at the time of submission, but my interview is on the 10th Oct and my last day at work is 3rd Oct, so technically my current employment will have changed (I did write in the Job Duties section that I was finishing on 3rd to get ready for moving)

The other potential update is that my fiancee changed his name legally in the US to make my name change process easier (we are taking on a new married name rather than hyphenate or take each other's names). He has sent me an official version of the name change document for me to take with me to the interview but is this grounds for updating the DS-160?

I think my main concern is, if I update my job on a DS-160 form I'll have to update my fiances name too.

Does anyone have any experience with this or similar issues? Any help would be appreciated.

Hi,

Your patient care summary that you have to bring along with you should have details of any medication you were on.

As cholsicles said they may want to know more about medication. Although it's tricky trying to do all this while at work, you can go back to your GP and ask that they rewrite the letter specifying details about what medication you were on, etc. I had to get them to rewrite a letter because of an error in it and while it was a little distressing going back and dealing with all that they did it pretty quickly.

I think we have to remember that our situation isn't something most GPs are used to dealing with so they don't really know what is needed outside of what you specifically ask of them (and even then they make mistakes and oversights).

1 minute ago, Diane and Chris said:

He did have the paperwork just in case. It did not come up. All of the original paperwork we kept as it was submitted. I did not re-do the support document or any additional paperwork. When is the interview scheduled?  

October 26th!

And that's great to hear. This is exactly how I was hoping we could handle it.

12 hours ago, Diane and Chris said:

It depends on how far along you are in the process of obtaining the visa in hand. If you start now, you should be able to have your name changed in about 6 weeks time. I did research Washington state and you will have to change your name legally first before you two marry. Then your fiancé can change his name to your new name when you two marry with no problems at all. Then you both can file the AOS with your new names. I think it will be easier to do it before rather than later as far as USCIS is concerned. Just speaking from personal experience. Good luck!  

Yeah, it sounds like this is what we will be doing. 

My sister actually went through a name change with the court several weeks ago so she filled me in on the process here as well.  She went in first thing in the morning, got a court time for later that day, and walked out in a few hours with everything she needed to take to SS, DOL, etc.!

Out of curiosity, it sounds like you changed your name before your fiance had his K-1 interview at the embassy. Did you send him copies of the court documents for your name change, or did it just not come up until you applied for the AOS?

Thank you so much for your help!

4 minutes ago, Naes said:

We weren’t sure if they would let us have the name we needed too. So I checked court name changes first (it was too expensive for my taste  ) 

 

In our case we didn’t want the extra trouble for k1. So we were going to wait until after I get the k1 to change his official name. (This is before we learnt we can both just change it with the license) 

 

my suggestion would be after k1 is granted before the wedding.

 

do not forget to add your legal name change documents with the AOS papers though. As it won’t be through the license you would probably need to add the court papers too.

Yeah I think this might be our best option, after the K-1 is issued but before the wedding. Thank you! Helps to get other people to back up your ideas haha.

7 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

To officially and legally change one's name usually requires going before the court. https://statelaws.findlaw.com/washington-law/how-to-change-your-name-in-washington.html If the name change is for personal reasons, it's going to require a petition through the court system. Here's some official guidance for WA: https://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/legal-name-change-in-wa-state/ 

Thanks! I'd already found both of these resources, I'm not too confused about the actual process of me doing it. More just worried about how it interacts with our K-1 visa and the AOS.

6 minutes ago, Naes said:

We both changed our last names via marriage license. But I don’t know the details or regulations on it. So maybe asking your country clerk directly may be a good idea?

You just wrote a new last name for both of you on the license? I was under the impression that wasn't an option.

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Only option would be via a court order. The process for that varies based on state/country/city where you would have it performed.

 

Correct. Various forms of name changes are permitted due to marriage, but changing of one's last name (except possibly a hyphenation of both last names, which is allowed in some states) is not one supported by any state that I know of or heard of.

My only concern then is that me changing my last name now could have some affect on the visa process. Can I simply send my fiance' a copy of the court order after the name change for him to take with him, or would it be best to wait until after the K-1 is finalized?

Hopefully this is in the correct forum, I apologize if not.

My fiance' and I are currently going through the K-1 Visa process. My fiance' is going to have his medical exam and interview with the embassy soon, but we are trying to get a head start on preparing for the next steps!

We had talked about it and liked the idea of choosing a new last name together, not using either of our current last names. I've researched the process of changing a last name for the beneficiary via the marriage license, but I also believe that only applies if he wants to change his last name to whatever mine is at the time of completing the marriage license.

Would the best way to go about it be for me to legally change my name prior to us getting married? Or are there some other options we're not thinking of? We would truly appreciate the help!

On 8/21/2018 at 12:31 PM, LeesaMarie said:

Hey, Washington too? That's great! Thank you  how far along in the process are you?

Yeah, I guess we're both trading one rainy place for another!

We got our NOA2 a couple of weeks ago and have our NVC case number so I managed to book the medical for 19th Sept. Though I'm having trouble figuring out getting my medical records and vaccinations so I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna end up having to reschedule the medical at some point.

Hi Everyone,

We're currently between NOA 2 and NVC stage in the K1 visa process and I was wondering, at what point is it best for the beneficiary to hand in their notice at work and leave their job before eventual Point of Entry.

I have to give at least 1 month notice at my current job. I'm stuck on what to do because obviously I want to have as much quality time with friends and family before I leave, but at the same time I don't want to jump the gun and leave too early.

I'm also having trouble finding any information on how this affects the process, does it matter if I've left my job already by the time I have my Embassy interview, no I still need to be in work until after the interview? I really don't like the idea of having to wait yet another month after the interview just because of my notice period.

I'd love to hear other people's experiences of when they finished working before POE.

Many thanks!

Congratulations!!! And thank you for sharing your experience with the medical, it's been real helpful to learn from people's stories such as yourself.

12 minutes ago, Clecuona said:

Mailing address section is current address. It has a little section that says if mailing address is different then you list another one. 

It's more than we listed the dates for the last address as from Sept 2016 - Present instead of Sept 2016 - Sept 2017, so it reads as if that's the current address when it shouldn't be.

Not sure how to go about amending that without getting an RFE 😓 is it inevitable?

I just took a quick look at our application and noticed we've entered some of the beneficiary addresses incorrectly.

Listed last address as current address (mistook mailing address section as current address), and entered one of the dates on a previous address incorrectly as well (reads as having a 2 year gap between 2 addresses).

Any advice on what we should do. I'm expecting this will result in an RFE, but is there anything we can do, should we try and amend it before they look at our case?

Our NOA1 new website is Jan 29th so no idea if they've already started on our case or if it's still too early.

Nice to see so many January filers getting their NOA1's! My fiance and I are in the process of booking a trip for me to visit him in the UK in April and we're really hoping that might have to be the last trip before we move him over here, but we're prepared to plan another just in case things don't move quickly.

Fingers crossed though!! 

17 minutes ago, Amnakhan89 said:

So did u get your noa1?

Sadly, not yet. No text or anything so far...

Sent our package in on 1/22 and just made this account to keep up to date!!

Really nervous about the wait, but so excited to be moving forward with everything!!