debbie_payne73

I received the 48 month extension but today I also received a notice that my N400 interview was scheduled for April! Hoping this journey will end soon!! 
 

Hi everyone,
 
Which is a faster process applying for citizenship online or paper form?  Also anyone know how long the processing times are for NYC?
 
Thanks!

Hi everyone, it's time again to submit a huge stack of paperwork!
 
I'm submitting my paperwork next week, in September.
 
A few helpful links:
 
I-751 form page: https://www.uscis.gov/i-751
G-114 E-notification form: https://www.uscis.gov/g-1145
Example of form I-751 filled in from VJ: https://www.visajourney.com/examples/INS-Form-I-751.pdf
Example of cover letter from VJ: https://www.visajourney.com/examples/USCIS_I751_Affidavit.doc
Filing locations: https://www.uscis.gov/i-751-direct-filing-addresses
 
Good luck everyone.
 

Hi Lade,
 

Thanks for the reminder, DeepakChani.
 
EAD/AP card received after 160 processing days.

Thanks for the reminder, DeepakChani.
 
EAD/AP card received after 160 processing days.

Fingers crossed they start approving Aug filer EADs in December! Glad to hear they are on mid-July now, but what a wait. Just so frustrating. With the holidays coming up I worry it will slow down again though. Agh. 

Hey to everyone that is struggling... I know exactly how you feel... I have to tell myself daily that the wait is just tempory, this time next year we will be wishing we were off... 
 
We could also all be doing the long distance thing wishing we were with our OH's we should be thankful that we are here and we only have a few more weeks to go. enjoy Christmas prep and the hallmark channel. 
 
Much love my fellow EAD/AP/GC waiters 

Hi Everyone
 
Our Interview is tomorrow (San Diego, CA office). 
I will be posting a review in the next few days which I hope will help everybody when their time comes.  
 
 

People who filed around mid of July are starting to receive the EAD/AP combo card ...

Hiya guys, just checking with anyone who's in the same boat during the current administration's stance on immigration and immigrants.
 
Have you attempted to get in touch with the local DMV office (I'm in Sonoma county) about applying for a state ID while your AOS is pending? The current crop of discussion leans towards 'nope', but my husband and I are getting annoyed that he needs to babysit me (with his state ID) whenever we need to get something done that requires some form of ID (getting liquor and sending mail out via FedEx, for example). (All cards on the table, I don't mind bringing my passport, NOA1, and marriage certificate wherever I go, but I can't do that every time I head to Safeway). 
 
Thanks in advance

hi
 
correct. now if the co sponsor was his mom who lives with him in the same house, then the mom would file the i864A
 
but the joint sponsor files his or her own
 
while your husband files his i864 as primary sponsor
 
 

You simply did not send a proper tax return which kicked off the rest of that rhetoric in the RFE. It is not specific to you and is very generalized. You also also did not read the instructions to the form or you would have known that state documents are not sent. Anything that says "TurboTax" is not a tax document. A TurboTax transcript is nothing they accept. 
 
So get the required tax document right and the rest will go away.
 
Until April 17, her latest tax return is tax year 2016. It would be great to offer 2017 since this is April, but you didn't go get your SSN before your K1 opportunity for one ended (Day 76 in the country). So 2017 is not a quick option for you now without a SSN or ITIN.
 
Go to 2016 TurboTax and find the print option that says "only documents for filing". That cuts out the massive amount of extra pages TurboTax generates. If it says "Worksheet" or "summary" or "comparison" or "Thank you for using TurboTax" then it ain't the right thing.
 
The  basic form is 1040 (or 1040A or 1040 EZ for simple returns.) Then there can be other forms depending on her source of Income. Some are called FORM 123 and some are named SCHEDULE XYZ. Some common Schedules one might have in their tax return are
Schedule A (where you can itemize deductions)
Schedule B (if she earned any interest/dividends from a bank account or investment)
Schedule C (if she is self employed)
Schedule D (if she had stock she sold for a profit...capital gains)
Form 2555 (if she reported your foreign income then excluded it from being taxed)
 
So figure out what forms and schedules are part of the federal return AND include the income statement for that tax year, which could be W2 if an employee or 1099-MISC if she is a contractor. That comes from her employer to be used figuring taxes.
 
 OR  instead of figuring all that paperwork out, print an IRS tax return transcript for 2016. Note, it is not an IRS tax account transcript. That tax return transcript is a stand alone document and does not require W2 etc. because it comes from the IRS. Find it online here  https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript She can get it online but she has to have a number of things to verify her identity. Read those before diving in.
 
 
 

Hello VJers,
 
My wife and I returned home from a short trip up to Olympia on the weekend to a scary looking yellow letter from USCIS with 'REQUEST FOR INITIAL EVIDENCE (I-485)' written on the front. Our first ever RFE!
I read through the letter and rather than get panicky and worried about my case and what it meant for our timeline, I simply became very confused.
Here's what they are asking me to provide:
 
All supporting tax documentation submitted to the IRS for the most recent year.  
We submitted a copy of my wife's W2, her 1099g (federal and state tax documents) and her Turbotax transcript for 2017. The RFE lists form 2555 and 'all supporting tax schedules' but in all my research for the AOS package, all I heard about was people submitting their tax transcript, W2s and 1099s. Did we miss a document? What is a 2555? And what would a tax schedule look like!?
I also wondered if maybe they are asking for 2018 tax documents, but at the time we sent the package we hadn't filed our 2018 taxes yet (and actually wont be until later in the year because, without an SSN I cannot file) and what about people filing in January who also wont have necessarily filed their taxes yet?
Did I simply miss some documents?
 
Based on the documents submitted with Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, the income did not meet 125% of the poverty guideline for the household size. Submit evidence of assets or obtain a joint sponsor.  
My wife was the sponsor. She filled out the I-864 and we included 8 of her most recent pay stubs and a letter from her employer stating her current job title, hours and salary (just under $38,000). I just checked, again, what the poverty guideline amount is for a 2 person household - it's $16,240. Making 125% equal to $20,300. So, what is it that is leading them to believe my wife doesn't earn enough? We obviously wrote her current salary in the form itself too, which makes it all the more confusing. They are asking for us to list assets to make up the difference in the income amount but there is no difference.  Are they basing it on the amount that she earned last year? Because that wasn't above the FPL - but I distinctly remember discussions on here about it being more important what the sponsor is 'currently' earning. Not what they happened to earn last year.
 
Any thoughts on these? I feel like I've missed something but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I genuinely considered the fact that the letter arrived on April 1st... and whether this is all some big joke.

Obviously I'm keen to get this all squared away as soon as possible.
We really appreciate any help or advice y'all can share.
 
Thank you.

And I understand how you feel but you have to keep in mind that you're not the only person who sent their package to the this lockbox in Chicago. Weekends don't count and Monday was a holiday. It can take 7-10 business days for them cash your check. So there's no need to be stressing yourself at this time. It's only been 6 business days  according to you saying they signed for it last Tuesday. If you're filing the AOS then you should know already that you have to be patient when dealing with USCIS.
 
In the meantime,   on here so that we can see your timeline and are better to assist with any future questions.

You're jumping all over the place
First, update your VJ timeline so people can better assist you and actually know what is it you're talking about (i.e. dates of submissions, etc)

Second, if they reject the file, they will send it back to you.
Give it a couple weeks to get the file IF they rejected it. They will tell you why they rejected it

third, A cover letter is NOT mandatory. It is good to have one and helpful but it is not needed. Many people have gotten their GCs without a cover letter. 

Did you provide 1 or all 3 G-1145 forms? Some got 3 notifications because we attached the form to all 3 applications

Biometrics done this morning! In and out. Super quick and amazing service. 
 

Hello everyone kinda new here thought i will join you guys since I filled AOS/EAD 08/23/18. Received and signed 08/24.

Hey Everyone.  We're filing our paperwork on Monday.  Glad to be a part of this forum

I figured I would write up a detailed description of my husband's biometrics appointment at the Alexandria, VA office in case anyone wants to go in being as fully prepared as possible. Before his appointment, I had looked around for information, but there weren't too many details listed on VJ nor the Internet in general.
We keep all documents relating to my husband's AOS case in a divided binder, so we knew we had everything we needed with us: his appointment letter and his passport. The appointment was for 11 am. We left from Fairfax, VA at 9 am and took the Fairfax County Parkway almost the whole way there. We got there at 9:45, there wasn't much traffic at 9 am, especially heading south. The building does not actually say USCIS anywhere on it, so make sure to look for the address number out front. Parking was very easy, there was no fee or gates, just an open lot right next to the building.
When we walked to the front door, there was a bit of a line. There were lots of signs clearly stating NO CELLPHONES, CAMERAS, OR RECORDING DEVICES. The officer was asking everyone as well, no phones at all were allowed, even if they weren't camera phones. We waited until we were one person away from the reception desk. An officer asked my husband what time his appointment was, he said 11. She told him they were not taking 11 am appointments yet, so we'd have to wait outside "next to the Fed Ex Box" lol. I was a bit disappointed because so many people have said that they arrived early and were taken right away.
So we sat on the curb for about 20 minutes and just talked about errands we have to do and our upcoming vacation, etc. I noticed the line was completely gone, but there were about 7 people standing around outside, although only one was near the Fed Ex box like we were, haha. So I told my husband to pop in and ask if they were ready to start accepting the next batch of appointments (but not mention that we were still about an hour early). The officer said sure and handed him a clipboard with forms to fill out. I noticed that as soon as we didn't come back out of the front door, the other people waiting got in line. The officer asked if my husband needed me to fill out his form, and we said yes (only because his handwriting is so sloppy). The officer said that was fine but when we were done with the form, I had to go back outside and wait, while my husband took the form to the second reception desk and waited in a huge room full of people. I thought I was in for a looooooong wait outside haha.
NOTE: when filling out the form, look at the top of your appointment letter. It will have your "A number" on it. My husband didnt have one when we were filling out his whole AOS application, so I put "none" but luckily an officer noticed and helped me correct it. Also, when the form asks for application/receipt number, ONLY put down the receipt numbers from your I-485 and/or I-765. PLEASE CHECK YOUR APPOINTMENT LETTER, it will tell you if are having both done in one trip or just one done at that time. Obviously, if your letter only mentions the I-485 biometrics, then only put your receipt number for that application. Your receipt numbers WILL be on the appointment letter.
So once we finished the form, I went outside and got comfortable on a bench under a tree and started reading a book I brought. My husband moved on into the second waiting room and took a number - 690. They were currently serving 660, so he was prepared to wait a long time, but he said that the numbers were being called really fast. When his number was called, he went up, had both sets of fingerprints done (485 and 765) and then had his picture taken. He said the officer was kind of crabby, but didn't take it out on him, and even let him approve the picture before finalizing it.
THEN, the officer told my husband "You'll get your green card in about 30 days." I was surprised when I heard this later, because I thought it was typically three months or more. I told my husband not to get too excited, because 30 days from now would mean that it would only be about two months total from turning in the EAD application to having the card in the hand. But he is already browsing and networking for job contacts so that when the card does arrive, he will be ready to go.
All in all, from the moment we received the form to fill out from the reception desk to when my husband walked out the front door, it took about 40 minutes tops, despite how crowded it seemed.
Good luck to everyone else, and please feel free to ask a question here or privately, even if you don't live in the DC area! I'll try to answer as best I can.

That sounds like the likeliest case  USPS gets things mixed up at times, haha

Possibly so....I'm thinking the same thing because the notice date on our biometrics appointment letter is 8/17 which is a day after I got the 3 email and text notifications. Maybe this letter just beat the NOA1 hardcopy by day or so. 

Glad to hear we're all getting our biometrics appointment  mine is set for Sep 04, but we got a Request for Initial Evidence (RFIE) on our I-485. Will update what's it for as soon as we get our hardcopy
 
I believe there should be a NOA1 hardcopy in the mail that's separate from the biometrics appointment letter. Maybe it'll be in the mail on Monday?

ahhh I got my biometrics appointment letter in the mail today!!