jeshamesh

What I've heard from an accountant friend is that what really counts is the current immigration status at the time of filing. So I'm pretty confident in that advice, but when I filed my wife wasn't a resident, but did have a valid SSN so I just filled that in and filed as early as possible.

yeah I think maybe I've made a mistake (which could potentially work in my favor) since from the "non-resident alien" definition there it seems that you would have filed a 1040NR or Form 1040NR-EZ, Form 1040PR or Form 1040SS proving your non resident status. I just included my wife on my 1040-EZ and found out about the substantial presence thing later.

I guess I'll wait and see. If the payment shows up now and technically wasn't supposed to I guess it wouldn't even matter since I would be eligible to recoup it on the 09 tax return regardless....it will just be a kinda cool situation where uncle sam give me an interest free loan for a while instead of the other way around (for once).

so I filed early with direct deposit hoping for an early stimulus payment. However, after investigating more i discovered that, despite the fact that my wife and I both had valid social security numbers on my tax return, she does no meet the substantial presence test (short by 50 days or so) for 2007 and that apparently is the IRS definition for resident status or not. However, much of everything else I've read says the payment is strictly based on whether a valid social security number was indicated on the return.

Complicating this further is two issues:

1. I have heard that an "unrestricted" SSN is what is really required even though this isn't indicated on the IRS website anywhere. This would be a SS card that doesn't state "valid for work only with USCIS authorization" I presume...not sure about this.

2. My wife now has her green card (card production ordered April 8th, 2008!) so was definitely a permanent resident prior to the tax filing deadline anyhow...wonder how this effects the situation. Only problem is that she is in europe right now so can't rush over to the social security office to remove the conditions on her card and my SSN falls in the first group of direct deposit recipients (3 days from now at the latest).

I'll keep you informed if a payment shows up. Otherwise that new macbook will have to wait until 09! : )

So, like many others before me, the day the green card shows up in the mail is not as joyous as it might be since the country of birth is listed as "Unknown" and it seems we're not done with USCIS for a while after all. We plan to send in an I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card form with an explanation of the problem, but we're not sure if we need to send in new photos also. Do you think all of your info (including fingerprint and photo) stays on file at the center that produced the card?

Also, I've read that some people have green cards indicating "USSR" as country of birth. Since the city my wife was born in was in Yugoslavia then, but is now in Croatia what should we request they print? I'm a little worried about further delays by asking that they print the name of a country that doesn't exist anymore on the card. Anyone know what USCIS rules and protocols are on this issue?

Yeah you must travel with the green card and your Romanian passport. Booking the ticket in the name on your passport will be the easiest because the airline wouldn't ask for any other additional identity proof so it doesn't matter what it says on your green card....thats just for US immigration when you return.

I usually use kayak.com, sidestep.com and www.vayama.com for tickets to europe. Check all 3 before booking. Also once you see which airlines seem to be offering the best price for the route you want then check the airline site directly, sometimes you can buy more cheaply directly from them than you can from the discount sites. If fares are looking way too expensive to Romania and you have a bit more time you can try to book a ticket from the US into a cheaper (in airfares anyway) European city like London or Madrid and go the rest of the way on a cheap airline like easy jet, ryanair, or wizz air. I've had luck using this method when traveling to Croatia and Hungary during the summer months.

I would recommend booking a ticket into Madrid and using easyjet onward to Bucharest in April. I've done a quick search and seems like it would probably save you a few hundred bucks. PM me if you need further details.

I'm a November filer. I just got an email today saying that my case was transfered to California. I think thats a good sign! We've got the biometrics appointment this weekend and hoping to see some activity on the EAD and AP soon after.....pretty reasonable to hope??

Hi everyone!

so I got an RFE about some tax stuff related to the AOS : ( kind of a bummer, but now I'm starting to worry about if the AP and EAD are also going to be held up. Are they totally seperate processes? is approximately 90 day still reasonable to assume for both to process? There was some cryptic message on the RFE which said something about being ineligible for the EAD until 90 days after evidence is received so I'm wondering if it also effects the AP. Hope not.

Also, I'm wondering how many trips an AP is good for? I probably have 3-4 before we would realistically expect that the AOS would be processed.

thanks for any advice/opinions!

So my wife and I filed for her AOS, EAD and AP...got our first notice of action November 25. We're expecting to go stay with her granny in Europe and travel for a few months in March-May. What I'm wondering is:

1. Is it pretty safe to assume that booking a trip about 100 days after the first NOA is pretty safe?

2. What are the potential hang ups of being out of the country for about 2 months during this period? I assume she'll have biometrics done prior to that. What else might they be calling her to do in the meantime?

Thanks for any info/opinions!

-Raoul

Thanks for the responses! I'll contact Dr Leonard on Monday. Sorry if this was a redundant question.

Hi!

I've decided to get my wife's DS-3025 transferred to the I693 Supplemental form since I've seen some successful, but also many RFE, cases for AOS applications sent in without the supplemental from. So since it seems that various Civil Surgeons charge wildly differing fees and some just flat out refuse to do it, can anyone recommend a good Civil Surgeon in the DC area who will charge a reasonable for transferring the form? Maybe it is possible that someone might also know of a good one who would accept a fax of the form and then return the sealed envelope it by mail? Any recommendations are most appreciated!!!

Hey thanks for the answers guys. The reason I asked is that it suggested on the timeline page to call if my case wasn't complete two weeks ago. But I wondered what they would really tell me other than just "be patient and wait". I know that I am very fortunate to be processing in Vermont, didn't mean to come off as impatient or ungrateful. Good luck to everyone! This wait totally sucks now, but it's the last time ever.

I'm a bit worried about my case now after viewing many other cases on this site that were sent in after mine and approved much quicker. I've not received any RFE's so I wanted to call vermont and see if I can get some info about the case. However, on the USCIS site it states that they will not give you any more detailed information than the general posted case processing estimates. Is it worth my while to call? Will I be able to find out anything new?

Thanks!!!