ChibiBeckyG

Hi all just some quick questions - I'm planning to visit the UK next month and moved to the US on a K1 visa about 4 years ago. When I got married I didn't change my name on my UK passport (it's still in my maiden name) but otherwise all my ID's / Bank cards use my married name. I understand if I book under maiden name then it will not be an issue with the airline. Will I still be ok to travel on my own? 

Also I'm in the middle of removing conditions from my Permanent resident status right now and my GC has expired, I have a copy of the letter proving I have the extension on me along with ID but will I need my marriage certificate just in case someone asks why I have a different last name on my UK passport? Has anyone had positive/negative experiences travelling like this?

1 minute ago, Indira/Charlys said:

What the address of the USCI office you went to? We were in West Palm Beach

Blah yes! I mean West Palm Beach. Same one as you guys, our appointment was at noon. 

Kinda wished they had set the distance seating with a 2 seat then space arrangement in the waiting area, it's a little awkward with 1 seat for every 4 when you come in a pair.

Whoops - posted in the wrong topic yesterday for some reason (I put it down to trying to post while getting things sorted). Had interview this afternoon at West Palm Springs field office today. Was bit crestfallen at first as the nice lady interviewing us said that apparently the Doctor who did my stateside medical screwed up dating some of my vaccinations. Thankfully I sent the original pre-Embassy medical docs with my I-693 and let her know, she said she'd check for it after the interview. 

The interview itself was mostly just repeating answers from the AOS form I sent in and confirming I remembered my husbands date of birth. Doing the whole list of potential criminal things I haven't done. Then she thanked us and said she was satisfied enough to approve, just that the medical needed clearing. I was kinda bummed because I thought for sure we'd have to sort that out... 

Then after the hour drive back I checked my case number online - "New Card is being produced". I guess she found the UK medical and it was enough. Yay!

 

Got my interview at West Palm Beach Florida tomorrow, so hoping it all goes ok. Trying to get as much stuff together as possible just in case

For the "evidence of ongoing marriage" do Affidavits need to be notarized? The USCIS letter doesn't mention needing it at all but apparently usually they would be? 

Oh so this could be a good thing? Okay! - Just we've waited so long that getting the letter felt like a lead brick being dropped after coming so close to interview. Anyway - we have till September 30th but will make sure we get everything together asap. Thank you for the responses! 

Anyone else had this?

Got an interview for 21st April pre-Covid. Was ultimately cancelled, but we had at least gotten that far. Now local office has sent letter saying they feel they need further evidence that our marriage is legit. But we were all good to go before Covid was a thing! Will this just be a case of everything getting backlogged or some other officer looking over our docs after months of inactivity and deciding we need to do more? 

Had AOS interview set for April 21st but was cancelled today : ( so I guess that means any April interviews are out of luck

I do volunteer for the local city Botanical Gardens which does give me access to the local county stuff a bit tho isn't as close to the city civic stuff. I figured at least that showed I had done something while I've been here + got me a little more into the social network around here.

I do have qualifications in teaching but I know Florida wants proper credentials for that before I can really apply as I only have 2 years volunteer teaching and substitute teaching under my belt. 

Hi all. 

Just got EAD notice today and just working out best foot forward at this point. I know I need to wait for card, just working out next steps. 

I'm accepting for now that I will be starting from scratch to a degree. I have 2 degrees but affording credential evaluation might have to wait till husband gets his tax return. Can I apply for entry level work without having that eval done? Or will it really be pointless till the time I can get my credentials translated into US terms? 

Okay so husband says he posted his taxes for last year and one pay stub of sorts, but it's gotta be 6 months worth right? The travel state gov website seems to suggest 3 months rather than 6 here 

He's concerned because he doesn't get it physically, it's all digitally done. But I assume his digital pay stubs would still count? Gonna try and see if he can get an official letter to confirm his employment too. 

I think he submitted pay stubs as evidence but I'm waiting for him to come home to discuss with him as I don't have copies of the documents submitted - I think he may have provided only one month of pay stubs and no tax return. He's def over by a few thousand before bonuses which he often gets as well. 

Hi all 

Just got letter update on my AOS application claiming income for sponsor doesn't meet the 125 percent. I've crunched the numbers and I am sure my husband earns over the 125% for a 2 person household according to current poverty guidelines. Is it normal to sometimes get this letter? does it mean they need more evidence of his income? Or are we in a situation where we need to look for a co-sponsor?

So we resent our application off on the 7th, but today got just USPS tracking card back in the mail. This didn't happen last time, they just sent our whole package back. The card has a stamp indicating it went to the Chicago lockbox. 

Does that mean they accepted the package? 
 

Blaaarg - somehow despite the double-checking I thought we did, we got the filing fee a bit off and they sent it back. I've re-done form and triple checked cost this time, we should be fine long as we post it again asap before Oct 15th right?

Sent off our AOS application 2 weeks ago, my parents are coming over from the UK tomorrow for a visit.

I was just wondering, will they have any issue with border control seeing as USCIS hasn't given us notification that they have my AOS yet? We sent it a week before my K1 expires and had been hoping at least we would know the AOS was received by time of their visit but nothing yet.  

We mailed just 2 weeks ago and still not had any notification (we did put the form in there requesting for notifications) 

I know I heard October is very busy for USCIS but is there anything we can do to check or just play waiting game? 

10 minutes ago, bandito said:

Thank you! I'll try to schedule my flu shot asap then!

 

Out of curiosity do you know if the medical summary and vaccination records need to be signed by my doctor? I need a written letter with a signature detailing my past mental health issues, but I assume the medical summary and vaccinations do not need to be signed as they are simply printed documents. 

The Vaccination record and medical summary do not need to be signed. I just requested them from my Surgery and they printed it out - some may give you an online login where you can access your general medical records to print out as well. 

Make sure you stress the need to get your signed letter regarding mental health issues, my surgery dragged a bit on this one. 

I got confused on that part and should of double checked here. But I thought even with the medical we still had to see a civil surgeon once here to get signed off properly (or at least got that impression from the K1 AOS guide here). I did say I had already done my medical in the UK too and gave them the immunization record from it to boot (got it back of course). It was ticked as completed with all requirements too.

 

1 minute ago, Wuozopo said:

Too late now, you already spent money on a medical you didn't need. 

Aw man - we got snookered huh? I just wanted to make sure the doc signed on the line and he was on the recommended UCIS list for our area + they had a new patient fee that made it hard for us to really say no and risk paying a lot to see another doc once they dropped their terms for signing on my medical. 

Hi just wondering if anyone else had a similar situation to me

Gotten AOS finally filed, but getting the medical signed off was...fun. I did have a TB and MMR jab (my second as an adult) at Kensington during my medical, but had all the blood tests and everything else. Figured the medical poking was all done. Get to doctors here in Florida and they tell me I needed a *third* MMR, TB Gold and tests for Syphilis and Gonorrhea. They also now suggested I should have Hep B jab even though it wasn't needed in my age bracket for vaccines. My copy of the medical shows I got a waver due to insufficient time on the Hep B jab - I guess I will still need to get it eventually right? 

Happy that we've got the AOS posted off, just the extra cost and needle poking was less fun ha

 

Just posted our AOS today - does this count as filing or do I have to wait till UCIS tells us they got our package? 

Hi all - got about a month to go, basically drawn out the time till I go as wedding is due in August and trying to make sure we're safely in the 90 day mark (don't worry, got till September)

1) Just to double check, do I need an ESTA active along with my K1 visa? Should I do it anyway just to be on safe side?

2) Mobile contracts! - I will move onto my Husbands plan eventually but does anyone have experience with doing something like asking their UK providers just to run an extra month or so? 

3) I have the Knightsbridge Medical results and we intend to apply for AOS asap. Will we still need to see a GP stateside? Partners got medical insurance but hasn't really seeked out a GP yet. I gather that in the US it tends to be more that you only see a doc if you absolutely must due to the costs. 

4) Has anyone else had trouble with family coming to their stateside wedding? We're planning a get together next year. But family have said "don't have a second ceremony, just have us over" - I'm a little bummed that basically nobody from my side will be attending. Husband-to-be's family have been great about it to their credit, but any tips from people who have already been there and done that?

Sorry for all the questions, but appreciate any answers!

Thought this might be useful for some people who are prepping for their interviews. I decided to stay overnight so there was as little stress as possible for getting to embassy. 

Travelodge is about 15 mins away from the Embassy - most of the time due to busy London roads more than walking. It has a decently stocked mini Waitrose next door

I decided to book a superroom so I had the most comfort possible, you get a coffee pod machine in addition to a kettle, a shower with 3 jet switch, better pillows and bigger desk and more USB ports and plugs. 

NOTE: The wifi was not working properly when I visited, don't book their wifi in advance as currently (according to provider at Virgin) - their routers are in the middle of an upgrade. Apparently Android devices might play nice with it, but my iPad couldn't latch to the network at all. They cannot refund the wifi voucher so buyer beware. 

Staff were very nice, the room was good, the jet shower very nice for back muscles. It is low thrills so not the best stay away ever, but it did the job. The Waitrose next door is always open till near-midnight and sells sandwiches, salads and has an in-house bakery. We went about 7pm yesterday and a lot of the bakery items were on offer as were the lunch goods. 

I found the superroom pillows awful personally, but I'm unsure if the aches I had were stress related or due to the pillows. the hallways were also kind of busy at night too, but generally can be covered with a white noise app or by having the TV on low volume. 

Hope that helps some people!

2 hours ago, skjourney said:

regarding MMR its 2 doses in your life, so if you had both courses as a child and its recorded you dont need them "within 10 years". The nurse thought I probably would have had them done before but I had no recollection and more importantly no record of it, I was told its harmless to have it done again even if it was the case that I had it done when i was younger.

Also, your GP has no reason to know what vaccinations are required for a visa.

 

Fair points. I meant more that it was a bit odd that I was short a vaccination update but GP had never said to me "hey you need to get this done to continue being immunised". Otherwise would of had them done ages ago. Just I thought my record had the full course on there but eh, what's done is done now!

Also yes - for what it's worth I was happy to have it done with Knightsbridge. On one hand they are very efficient - my local surgery might of been a bit more chatty and taken time. But the nurse basically administered them in very speedy fashion and did set it up so I could lay on the examination bed in the docs room in case I felt faint. Fast but I feel like I was still well looked after regardless.