DanielPlainview

Hey Confused.   Really sorry to hear your situation.   I don't really know all the options, but I wanted to just provide some encouragement to you.    So first of all, you have not been here very long and sometimes it can take a couple time to adapt to being married.   Hopefully, all is going to work out for you and your husband, however, you need to keep your spirits up during this period, and plan out a strategy so you are prepared for anything..   

Someone else had suggested maintaining evidence of his behavior.   I would highly recommend you take that advice.   If you can get emails legally, then yeah, get them or any other evidence such as a picture of the phone with the other woman.   My further suggestion is to document any conversations you have with him where you feel belittled or slighted.   Write down the date and the conversation and the important points of the conversation.   If you need this in the future, it will help establish that it's a frequent and long running problem.   Make absolutely sure that you keep that information CONFIDENTIAL.   You found his phones, don't let him find your documents.   

Someone suggested getting a job.   That's a great idea too.   Sounds like he works an awful lot and that could be putting pressure on him.   Having your own job would provide you with some independence and may help take some pressure off of your husband since you can help with some of the bills.   Put something away for yourself too in the event you need it in the future if all does not go well with the marriage.   You should see your work permit very soon.

Your AOS should process fairly quickly too.   So bide your time until you get that since that likely does afford you some protection.   I have seen enough documents that ask if you're still married or divorced.   So you're definitely not the first person to have encountered this situation.   I believe you'll have some level of protection from being deported in the event of a divorce.  You'll need your own money, however, since completing your process is going to cost a lot.  Obviously you'll need a job and income to pay for an apartment, food, transportation, etc.   So think about those things, hope for the best, but plan for the worst. 

Good luck.  So sorry to hear this happened for you.

On 11/19/2022 at 4:54 AM, HarryWL said:

 

That makes no sense. By the time the interview rolls around, there could be a gap of over 3 years between filing and meeting with a USCIS agent.

The real reason is because USCIS operates incompetently. It's a government agency burdened by bureaucracy. (The only thing they do with competence is cashing your check). \That's a disgrace. 

Three truer statements have never been made.   It IS an absolute disgrace, and I cannot help thinking that since we are doing this legally and paying for our processing, we are relegated to the back of the line.   

And you have got to love the whole "Pay us for biometrics, that we're just gonna waive anyway".  We just got the second waiver for that fee, this time for the N400 that is completed online.  Apparently no way to figure out if that's needed prior to payment.  

Three years from now, if they ever get to us for citizenship, it will all be over.  

I was thinking about this topic again today.   I wanted to know if the N400 is processed by the same "service centers" that process the i-751, or is it the local office who handled the green card ?   According to the processing times website, looks like the regional service centers handle the i-751 but the local offices handle the n400.  

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

We got the "cannot make a decision" nonsense after our initial GC interview.   Rep forgot to ask us to sign the form in the meeting....which I should have known.   We lost two months waiting for them to set up a new appt and of course, wondering what in the world the issue could be.

On 1/14/2022 at 6:39 AM, Dashinka said:

Your case is similar to my wife's.  We looked at the I751 as a somewhat meaningless requirement, but of course we followed it and filed on time.  Then as soon as her N400 window opened up, she filed (about two weeks after the window opened) and had her oath ceremony about six months later.  She never actually ever received a 10 yr GC as it was unnecessary, she was able to apply for her US passport instead.

Excellent info.

We are going to be in the same boat since Potomac is currently about 24 months processing time, and we just filed for ROC.   But we are simply planning to submit the N400 as soon as possible, so that means about 1 year before ROC is supposed to be approved.     We intend to follow all the N400 requirements as noted on the instructions.   While they MAY be adjudicated at the same time, they may not be.

So went back to August filers, to check on biometrics notice/waiver timing.   Looks like the quickest was a waiver that was only one week after they got the NOA.  Didn't check on the service center.   Longest....you guessed it, good old Potomac..........the couple waited 2 months, but on the upside they got a waiver instead of an appt.   So we will likely be getting that notice/waiver right around Christmas.  Just hope that's Christmas 2021.

On 11/16/2021 at 10:51 PM, Prizm123 said:

has anyone else gotten a letter saying the form was outdated? it was literally the form printed directly from their website

Check out "Edition" on the below website...........

Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence | USCIS

I'm including the text under "Edition"......... as long as you used 12/2/19, you're golden.

On 11/13/2021 at 10:29 AM, TastyCake said:

So now we're just in a waiting state.  The Vermont Service Center is currently 10-16.5 months for an I-751.  We're hoping we are closer to the 10 months.  Got our fingers crossed.

We're Potomac Service Center,  20-23 months.   We're hoping closer to 20.   😁

8 hours ago, march16filer said:

We received a letter today that our biometrics have been waived. I didn't know we'd be getting a letter because we got the notification a while back. 

how were you notified in advance of the letter    I thought the letter was the notification for either an appt, or a waiver.

On 11/7/2021 at 8:34 AM, dleen said:

 

So the nightmare scenario did come true - 

My wife received her Biometrics appointment yesterday (Notice date Oct 30, 2021) and the biometrics appointment is schedule for November 22, 2021. 

Luckily, we received the notice while she in the US and have gone ahead and rescheduled the flights. 

 

 

Unreal.   Now if you had no plans, they'd have waived your biometrics.   

On 10/6/2021 at 5:18 PM, iwir said:

Question: do you have to include affidavits from close family/friends on the package?

In the instructions, the affidavit is listed as an "example" of evidence to prove the relationship.    So we included that.

What I'm curious about is the folks who submitted the marriage cert and the passport copy for the American citizen.   We did not include the marriage cert or either passport, as they were not requested in the instructions, either as a requirement or as an example of evidence.   By virtue of issuing the GC, seems they were satisfied that the marriage took place, and it was our interpretation that they want to now see that the marriage was legit and most all of our submission was evidence supporting that......including the affidavits. 

We also didn't go for the complete documentation of two years of bank/credit card statements.    We showed the first joint statement, the current joint statement and one around Jan/Feb of 2021.   Again, figuring that we are showing consistency throughout time.   We also had requested and submitted bank letters and insurance letters stating "Spouse was added on this day, and is still on the statement / policy" to show we were not adding and deleting the person from the account just to generate a statement in both names.

On 10/25/2021 at 1:47 PM, jeffo said:

I'm a bit loss. The acronyms LIN and SRC mean?

Hey Jeffo, you'll know after you get the NOA.   Those acronyms are in the receipt number on your letter, telling you where you're getting processed.    uscis.gov gives estimated processing times for each of the centers.   BIG difference in processing times between centers.

On 10/25/2021 at 1:06 PM, ITMFA said:

Just received my biometrics waiver letter - dated 10/21 (YSC case number)

That's about the only encouraging bit about YSC, but I'm very glad to hear it.   Looked up all the service centers and jealously looking at the SRC and CSC people, where it's showing 6-9 months.  Potomac....20-23.5 months.  LOL !!   Yeah, of course we got the dreaded YSC.

Hoping the citizenship process is independent of the ROCs, as we're waiting for that to ease travel.

Sheesh, I thought we'd get this done in 9 months.   I better recalibrate.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-immigrants-green-cards-marriage-175700536.html

6 hours ago, celie&joseph said:

Just got a case status change with Biometrics waved! 

Thank god.   Read all these posts and they kept you waiting for so long.  Sounds like our interview, where the agent neglected to have my wife sign and we had to wait two months to get a new appt.   Delayed the GC for two months.....no other issues. 

Nice bonus on the biometrics.  Does that save you $85?

On 1/22/2020 at 4:54 PM, boris64 said:

Congrats! Finally...

HA!   Thanks Boris !!!   How about it.   Glad this nonsense is over and got a break for a little while.  Wonder if we get that same agent for ROC.    

For those of you who have not interviewed yet........

IT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THE AGENT AND APPLICANT SIGN THE I-485 DURING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS !!!!!!!!

I am usually pretty thorough but I missed the fact that the applicant signs the i-485 twice.   Once with the submission of the application in Part 10 but ALSO DURING the interview in Part 13.   Most agents will likely have you sign, but if not be sure to ask about it.   We did not sign, and were not aware of the requirement.   A few days after the interview, we got notice of a "Second Interview" without any explanation for what it's about.   This also caused a two month delay as we waited for the second interview to be scheduled.  We were also working feverishly on any additional relationship evidence and reviewing intensive interview information, and considering hiring an attorney.   Not a fun position to be in....particularly when a simple signature would have avoided all of that.

It was another two weeks after the second interview for the approval, so all in all, not good.  However, the status now shows mailed, so we're going to have a breather for two years until removal of conditions.

Also, apparently fees for Removal of Conditions and Citizenship are proposed for increase.  ROC is currently $595 and the proposed fee is $760.  Citizenship is currently $640 and the proposal is $1170.  We are all about two to three years away from those processes, so hopefully we won't see additional increases.

5 hours ago, skjourney said:

Can you not try a brick and mortar bank ? I opened with Wells Fargo, like your experience they wont let me open online for a non resident but it told me to apply in branch so I went with my documents (i had a SS number) and they opened a checking account no problem, just needed $25 to deposit into the account.

So strange that these banks seem to follow different protocols but no, we did not try a brick and mortar bank.   The primary reason is that she did not get the GC or the Combo card and we could not get the SSN anyway.   I think most banks, including WF would require at minimum the SSN.   She just got that now this week.  Tomorrow is the second I-485 meeting....which we don't understand....but are hopeful the GC is on the way after that meeting, and all will be good in our world.

You surely answered my question though.......it IS possible to get an account without the GC at some banks.   I wanted to know so I was fully informed for this interview tomorrow, as I've documented why we could not add her to my existing accounts.   I'm better prepared now if they ask why we didn't go to a brick and mortar bank.

Many thanks for your reply !!

17 minutes ago, boris64 said:

You have to go for a second interview? I didn't see that. What a crock....I hope it is just an administrative issue...

Yeah, it appears to be that way.   We are obviously prepared with more evidence, and have gone over all the second interview info.   But I really think it's related to a signature.   Local office tried to call both of us 10 minutes after we left the interview, but we both had our phones off from the interview.  The paper mentions nothing about me being invited.  We called the 800 number for clarification but they would tell us nothing.   

11 minutes ago, boris64 said:

I use online banks as well. USAA, Ally and Schwab. We had to wait for a GC as well. There was a process to add her earlier through USAA but it was convoluted. Adding her to the accounts was not a priority so we waited for GC and SSN.

same here.........not a priority, other than to provide evidence of "shared assets" for the interview.  Since they're inviting us back, we're building more evidence.   Even though they're not requesting it, we're planning to go in with additional relationship evidence.

10 minutes ago, boris64 said:

We signed three or four additional docs. I do believe my wife signed this as well. The other docs were that we understood that she had to apply for ROC in two years and that she understood the policy on means tested benefits.

Many thanks for this Boris.   We're waiting two months now since interview, and wondering the heck is going on.  Interview went fine, but zero result.  My wife was not asked to sign anything.  Call in letter is addressed to her only and is asking her to bring nothing, other than ID.   So we're pretty confident this is the culprit, but good to have verification that people were requested to sign.   Anyway, we will know in a week.  Hope they indicate "approved" at this one and don't give us the "we'll have to do more review" response.

On 12/16/2019 at 2:38 PM, IHaveNoName said:

Apparently she only looked at the first pages of the bank statements and credit cards (the mail to: section only had my name) you had to look further through the statements to see that they were joint accounts. She thought they were just accounts in my  name. This really bothered me that someone who's job it is to review these documents could miss that all of these were joint accounts...

Can you tell us how you were able to get joint bank accounts prior to getting the green card?   The banks I currently have accounts with require that the foreign citizen has permanent residency before we can add them to our accounts or open a new account.  Both are online banks...Ally and Capital One.

For those of you who have completed the interview, can you tell us if you were requested to sign section 13 of the I-485 DURING THE INTERVIEW?    My wife signed in Section 10 before we mailed the document, but We rec'd a Call In Letter, and we believe it is because we did not sign this section of the I-485 during the interview.

1 hour ago, ujones said:

where can I find this statistics? I-797 has Lee’s Summit , MO address even though we r in Columbus , Ohio . Bio completed on 9/3 no updates since then 

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/aosstats.php

If you're living in Columbus, there is a USCIS office on Broad Street.     If you're in Lee's Summit, your office is in Kansas City.   You didn't travel from OH to MO for biometrics, did you?