girlafraid7

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for my ignorance, but I've forgotten everything I ever knew about VJ!! I used to be on every day but haven't been for 2 years!

My question is this: We submitted our I-751 3 weeks ago and haven't heard a peep from USCIS. I have seen that many of your received your NOA's right away. Should I call yet?

Also, I noticed that some of you are tracking your cases (touches,etc) online. How do I do this? Which website do I need to log onto and just any information would be MOST helpful!!

Thanks so much everyone!!

Amy

I think you should have received your NOA or at least your biometrics notice by now. Do you know if your check has been cashed yet? and how did you send your information (can you confirm that it was received?) you can log onto the www.uscis.gov website but you will need a receipt number to track your case which you will get when you get your Biometrics notice.

I would suggest if your check has not been cashed that you might want to call the them at 1-800-375-5283 just to see if the call center has your account. go through the prompts and say you do not have/ cannot remember your receipt number.

I did not receive an NOA but I got my biometrics notice so that should not bother you too much. if GC expires you can get a stamp at the local office which is what I did.

03/10/09-I 751 sent

04/01/09 notice for Biometrics received

04/08/09 -Biometrics done

04/16/08 Still no receipt-made infopass appt for 04/29/09 ATL

04/29/09 went to local office received one year extension (day 43)

05/04/09 day 48

Thanks for this information--very helpful. The check hasn't been cashed yet. I'm gonna get my DH to call today because they wouldn't give me any information since I'm not the applicant. At least I know we can always go and get a stamp at the local USCIS. Sucks because his driver's license expires on the same date and the DMV requires proof that he's permitted to stay in the US!!! THANK YOU~~

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for my ignorance, but I've forgotten everything I ever knew about VJ!! I used to be on every day but haven't been for 2 years!

My question is this: We submitted our I-751 3 weeks ago and haven't heard a peep from USCIS. I have seen that many of your received your NOA's right away. Should I call yet?

Also, I noticed that some of you are tracking your cases (touches,etc) online. How do I do this? Which website do I need to log onto and just any information would be MOST helpful!!

Thanks so much everyone!!

Amy

HI Everyone,

when we first applied for and received my husband's permanent resident card, we lived in Spain and used my parent's address for our mailing address. Now we have moved into our own house here in California. We apparently still have my parent's address on file. It has now come time to file our I-751 to remove conditions. My question is: do we HAVE to change our address to our address on this petition? Won't it just complicate the issue? I also ask because all of our proof of bonafide relationship are based on OUR mailing address, not my parents. (Bills, credit card statements).

I am hesitant to change the address because I don't want to complicate the issue. USCIS already has enough problems when you do everything by the books!

Thanks for any tips!

Amy

If you are currently living outside of the US (ie military base, etc.) then you include fingerprints with the I-751. If you are in the US, then you don't. After you submit your application, you will receive an ASC Biometrics appointment letter. This isusually comes about a month after the NOA receipt for your petition. It will have a date, time and place where you will go to have both your fingerprints taken digitally (pun intented) as well as a photograph.

How is it that you did not have to do biometrics for your AOS to get your conditional green card? Or did you mean you didn't have to submit fingerprints with your application but did the biometrics appointment?

We had to do the medical test for the green card approval, but neither of us remember doing fingerprints. We were living in Spain at that point. Now we live here. It sounds like we just submit the application and they will send us a letter with our biometrics appointment.

Thanks!

one will be made for you

What does this mean? One will be made for me before or after the application? Do i need to send it in with the application?

I've read the guides and instructions, but I'm getting conflicting information for filing the I-751. We have not had fingerprints taken thus far in this process. Do we need to make an appointment for fingerprints to send in with our application (per the application instruction)? I also read something on the USCIS as of 2/27/07 that says an update to the process says that you will be sent a notice AFTER the I-751 is filed to appear at a USCIS office to have your biometrics captured. WHICH IS IT?

anyone know?

Hi there,

My husband has lived here just over a year as a permanent resident with a green card. He's been working for a startup for the past 7 months and just today it closed their doors. Well, my brother is saying that at least he can collect umemployment. I thought that when I declared that I was financially repsonsible for my husband for 10 years, I waived his rights to that??? My brother insists that by law, every company has to have umemployment insurance. Anyone know about this?

Thanks!

This is the view from my office window. I assure you, it's usually a terrible view with Exxon in the background. That's the state capitol building. To the lower left corner, you can see the Pentagon Barracks, which were built in 1825, on the site of an old British fort.

Hey I was just here this weekend! Geaux Tigers!!!

The officer at our POE made a comment about how it's a problem when people have too many last names. Whatever!

I wouldn't like it if I was told what I could and couldn't use for my last names.

I heard a co-worker complain about her names on her SS card....grrrr...you'd think that people would be used to the two last names - I don't see the big deal.

I don't either, but if people complain about having to have two last names on their own documents...do something about it. We applied for AOS with just the three names (first, middle, first last) and that's how his green card came, allowing him to change everything else to match that name, which he'd been battling for 4 years in this country. I mean, if you applied for the green card in that name, you're pretty much screwed though...unless you want to do an I-90.

We applied only with first and last name and the Embassy in Madrid told us we had to apply with his full name---both last names. So unfortunately now his green card and all other subsequent documentation has dual last names. I wish we had been able to do it your way

my father-in-law wants to go camping at Lake Tahoe this summer and he wants the whole family to go..

I am kind of in charge of finding a campground... the only problem is that he wants to stay on the Nevada side and there seems to be slim pickings for campgrounds on that side but there is a tonne of campgrounds on the California side...

anywho, I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with Lake Tahoe...

thanks a bunch

We stayed at Emerald Bay---spectacular! But non-Nevada side. The popular ones are right on the lake: Sandy Beach Campground, Campground by the lake... they are like 1 mile to Nevada...why does he want to stay there--for the Casinos?

It's good that you are looking to reserve now, cause they book up a year in advance!

401K is a US / IRS code word for tax deferred savings, same thing as 403B

I'm sure she knows what 401(k) is -- she's asking whether or not Spain has

an equivalent tax deferred savings plan.

Yes i should hope I know what it is since I have all of my retirement savings in one! Need help with all of europe, not just spain--they all have the same currency after all!

Hi guys,

We have a chunk of money sitting in a checking account in Spain. I wish I knew more about their banks, etc. to be able to get that money invested into a savings account to start earning interest. Here I have a US online account that gets 5.05% interest; a 401K, and an IRA....does that type of thing exist in Europe? I've tried reading the Spanish bank sites, but that is vocabulary that I just don't know.

Please help. Is this even in the right forum???

I'm not saying I agree with suing a kid, but some of those little suckers go way way faster than "10mph" on the slopes and don't give a darn about what they cause in their recklessness. I'm a strong skier but there have been more than one near disastrous outcomes on account of cocky kids. Damn them.

Did i mention I'm pregnant?

Can the Forever Stamp be used for International Mail?

Yes, but keep in mind, the postage value of the Forever Stamp is the domestic First-Class Mail single-piece 1-ounce letter rate that is in effect on the day of use (mailing). Since the international postage rates are always higher than the comparable domestic rates, additional postage would have to be affixed.

http://www.usps.com/ratecase/ratecase_faqs.htm

Aha! Fantastic. Only need to figure out how much a 3oz letter will cost to send to the UK then.

If it's just a regular sized envelope it's $.90. I just went this morning!

The problem is that when we got his SS card and driver's license, he had to have exactly what was on his green card--both last names. They wouldn't allow him to drop it.

So now he's stuck with it.

oh well.

Don't you still lose on the conversion rate as well?

Has he hyphenated his last names? I had to do that while in Canada and it worked just fine, otherwise peepz would think my father's last name was my middle name

Yeah, he gets the father's name as his middle name a lot. We have been hyphenating when we can, but I wish we would have just done his father's last name initially and then on the "other names used" as suggested above. Oh well, we'll just stick with it for now I guess. And just keep correcting those who don't understand the hyphenating.

So Is it possible to change the last name, or is that just too difficult at this point?

My husband is from Spain and so on his green card and all other documentation it shows his two last names. For example, Ramirez-Hernandez. But now people call and ask for Mr. Hernandez, when his real last name is Ramirez.

Is there any way to get around this?

Speaking as the USC here, my hubby has had good times and not so good. At least now, 6 months on, he is feeling more balanced. The first couple months was like a euphoric vacation in California, with ever blue skies. But then he really started missing everything--including all the rain from back home. He mostly missed having a place in this new world. Back in Basque country, he had his role at his job, with his friends, and with his family. Here, he just felt like the new addition to my family. His English has gotten much better but he still has bad days where he just can't-get-the-words-out! I think the toughest part for him was sending out about 1500 resumes and not getting ONE call back (and this is after working as a Manager for a big company for 10 years back in Basque country). But finally he got a real job and he started today. He (nor I) slept at all last night as life in the silicon valley is way more hi-tech than he's ever been used to....and he's terrified that he won't be able to keep up with the fast pace.

He definitely thinks about moving us back to his country as a long term goal, but acknowledges that we are here now, so that's it for now. So I'm hoping things just get better and better.

As for an embarrassing story--he has many. So I guess in Spanish, the Grand Canyon is called the Grand Canyon de Colorado --as in from the Colorado River. Well we went there over Thanksgiving, and on the way back across the Arizona-California border, they had a border checkpoint. They asked where we were coming from and he naturally said Colorado. I looked at him with this crazy look and told the guy--the Grand Canyon. I later teased him that I hadn't realized that we had been to Colorado. Good thing we weren't coming back from Mexico--we would have been interrogated!

Another embarrassing and not to mention ongoing situation that I would love help from any Native Spanish speakers is that he CANNOT say would/wood. He says good. I tried to teach him a million times, and the only way he can say would is by saying "we" silently before saying would. So it ends up being "I (we) would like to go to the store." I guess the name woody is out for any future kids.

Good luck to everyone!

well we are up to 6cms in 6 hours. So we'll see how it goes. And she's had the epidural already... now we just need to wait....nervously!

Yeah well, i said I could never be with someone who snores. My hubby doesn't, but my dog is the worst! I wear earplugs AND a pillow over my head. works though!

So it sounds like we're in for the long haul here! Darn, I was hoping to get off work early to head to the hospital!

My brother's wife is bringing our family's first grandchild into the world today. She went to the hospital at 730am to be induced into labor. Any idea when the kid will show up? I know it totally varies by person. But after how long of inducing do they just say, all right C Section!

I got one non-English speaking Hispanic grandmother. No joke. I'm talking at least 75 years old. I thought it was sweet, because I figure she was just getting some candy to give to her grandkids anyway, right?

The California DMV website sates that for birth date verification and legal presence requirements this document is acceptable " Notice of Action (I-797 Approved Petition) ".

I already received NOA for the EAD and I noticed the form is called "I-797CNotice of Action" is this the same document referred above?

or i really have to wait for the Employment authorization or permanent residence card?

We had to wait for green card, then social security card, THEN we went to get driver's license. And by the way, then you only get your temporary (can drive with an adult license) and after the driver's behind the wheel test do you get your license. Kinda crappy.