Spraz

2 hours ago, sjhedquist said:

Do I literally type up a document like that and sign it? Seems kinda sketchy that I'm doing my own translation and then certifying my own work. Do I need to get it notarized or anything like that?

I did exactly that, no notary, typed it up and signed it myself and didn’t run into any problems because of it.  We mailed our application back in August.

We had the interview at our local USCIS field office yesterday.  We passed!  But we are getting RFE’d because Dra. Grillo wouldn’t do my husband’s vaccinations and then we kind of forgot about it so we have to do that before they can move ahead with processing everything.  
Our interviewer was nice but serious.  You do take an oath before the interview starts (I didn’t expect that) but he only asked us 5-6 questions about our relationship and then asked some follow up questions about our things in our aos application.  We also explained the additional evidence that we brought as proof of our relationship.  We only brought 3 pictures from our wedding and our joint bank account statements and car insurance statements.  Not a ton of evidence but he seemed fine with what we brought.  
I was worried about him asking me why I haven’t changed my name but he didn’t ask.  He asked me if my husband was on any paperwork for our house (I bought it 7 years ago) and I told him no, but he didn’t ask any follow up questions about it.  
For all who are preparing, the best thing we did was answer our questions with cariño.  He asked us questions about what we like about each other’s families and of course, our story.  It was very easy to show our happiness and emotion about those things and our interviewer could tell

On 11/25/2019 at 1:47 PM, Spraz said:

We sent in our entire AOS on July 18th, got our NOAS on August 8th.  On November 20th our interview for AOS was scheduled and now were waiting to receive more information through the mail.  The advanced parole and employment authorization were approved on November 22nd.  Lot's of exciting stuff coming in the mail for us, hopefully this week or next.  Feeling pretty happy!

You probably all know this but just in case someone new is reading this:  https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do

Enter in your case numbers (they are on your Notice of Action) and you'll find out approval dates before you actually get it in the mail.

Update:  We got the actual letter with appointment date in the mail on November 26th (6 days after it had been approved and updated online).  Surprise to us, the interview is scheduled for December 30th, 2019.  We had to change our Christmas travel plans and buy new plane tickets to return home to Salt Lake earlier than we had planned.  We honestly weren't expecting that we'd only have a month to prepare for this interview but it's exciting.  Also, we got the combo card (AP and EAD) in the mail 7 days after it was approved on the 29th of November (yesterday).  I hope this is useful information for those still waiting!

We sent in our entire AOS on July 18th, got our NOAS on August 8th.  On November 20th our interview for AOS was scheduled and now were waiting to receive more information through the mail.  The advanced parole and employment authorization were approved on November 22nd.  Lot's of exciting stuff coming in the mail for us, hopefully this week or next.  Feeling pretty happy!

You probably all know this but just in case someone new is reading this:  https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do

Enter in your case numbers (they are on your Notice of Action) and you'll find out approval dates before you actually get it in the mail.

12 hours ago, andreaam said:

I think he can. I would ask in a general forum if some more paperwork is needed for that. 

12 hours ago, Fe.Ta said:

Thank you!  Can he go to school in the meantime, since he has a SSN and the paperwork would have been filed?  Or do we have to wait for the AOS and EAD for that?

We went in to the college where my husband wants to apply.  The people were a little confused about how to handle our unique situation but basically we concluded that he will need to apply as an international student but instead of getting the normal student visa and student visa paperwork requirements they will indicate K1 visa instead.  We just need to get him accepted and registered before the K1 visa expires at the end of September.  So we are rushing to have him take the TOEFL (English language test) which is a requirement for international student applications.  The nice thing now is that we have a specific contact at the college who understands our situation and can work with us.

Hope this helps.  I think we have a similar timeline so it may be a good idea to check out TOEFL or other English language test which I assume are a requirement for most international student applications.

3 minutes ago, Fe.Ta said:

Update from us:

We applied for the SSN today (July 3rd) and will be getting the card between 2-4 weeks through the mail.  The delay in 2-4 weeks has nothing to do with any system issues or us waiting too long, it is just the normal time.  We suggest you go within the 7 days of arriving to get the SSN, don't wait the 2 weeks suggested.  Otherwise, you are looking at not having a SSN until about 6 weeks after arrival, which delays your marriage license and AOS.

 

Here are the facts:

• We arrived June 26th
• Printed i94 ASAP
• Went to SSA Office July 3rd
• In our state, Florida, we have two types of offices (Social Security Administration Office and the Social Security Card Center).  If your state is the same, you should go to the Social Security Card Center because you are requesting a NEW, non-issued SSN and, therefore, are getting a whole new card.
• We took his DNI, passport with the visa, Acta de Nacimiento (not translated yet), and the i94 form.
• They have the application available in the office.  We used the Spanish form so he could fill it easier and waited to be called.
• The officer did not take anything except the filled application and the passport.  So, he accessed the i94 from the computer, etc.  Then, he gave us back the passport and a receipt.

We are going to translate the Acta de Nacimiento within the next few days to have it ready for the AOS.  But, wanted to let you know, it is not necessary to have it translated for SSN (again, they didn't even look at ours).

 

If we can be of any assistance, let us know.  We are trying to be as active and responsive as possible to help others in this journey, especially because the AOS does not have as much information readily available.

To be helpful I thought I would share our experience as well.  My fiancé arrived June 24th and we printed I-94 the following day.  We visited the social security office 8 days after his arrival.  I was worried there would be problems since you are supposed to wait 10 days after arrival but the officer didn’t say anything about it.  She did look at the passport and visa, the printout of the I-94 and the acta de nacimiento.  Even though she didn’t read Spanish she looked at it to write down his date of birth and the date the birth was recorded.  

Now, our officer hadn’t done a k-1 visa ss card application in at least 6 months and so she may have asked us for unknown things.  

She explained that postal workers won’t put an envelope with a social security card in a mailbox if it doesn’t seem like that person lives there.  She encouraged us to leave a note in the mailbox explaining that my fiancé now lives at our address.

Also, we have to wait much longer, 4-6 weeks because something in our information didn’t match up perfectly and so it will take a little longer to process.

59 minutes ago, Fe.Ta said:

How do you apply for the SSN?  We downloaded the I94 form.  But, don't know where to start to apply for the SSN.  We tried to go into the actual website, but it is a bit overwhelming.

We have had the same problem!  I wish I knew the answer.

10 hours ago, PirataCoqui said:

Visa status changed to issued!

My fiance too!  The only thing that suprised him a little bit at the interview (after reading all of these forums and feeling mostly prepared) was that he was planning on speaking Spanish to feel less nervous but the person interviewing him asked if he spoke English and then directed all of the questions in English so my fiance answered in English.  His English is pretty good and they complimented him on it, so it wasn't really a problem, but I assumed they would have given him a choice to have the interview in English or Spanish.

1 hour ago, PirataCoqui said:

I hope it does't burn us,😥but we logged in and booked the 5th, 8:30 this morning.  My fiance and I where very stressed after the appointment yesterday, she came across 3 people at the doctors office and 2 of them said they booked there appointment for end of June after not hearing anything from the embassy at the beginning of the month. Since we had an account already created, for previous tourist visa application we just decided to browse and found the appointments and decided to book it since I am visiting her next week...and feared seeing July appointments.  I hope it turns out ok for us we have all our paperwork ready to go, including doctor. Fingers crossed. She plans on dropping off everything tomorrow. 

 

The other appointments open where for the 19th. 

Roberto

 

 

1 hour ago, PirataCoqui said:

I hope it does't burn us,😥but we logged in and booked the 5th, 8:30 this morning.  My fiance and I where very stressed after the appointment yesterday, she came across 3 people at the doctors office and 2 of them said they booked there appointment for end of June after not hearing anything from the embassy at the beginning of the month. Since we had an account already created, for previous tourist visa application we just decided to browse and found the appointments and decided to book it since I am visiting her next week...and feared seeing July appointments.  I hope it turns out ok for us we have all our paperwork ready to go, including doctor. Fingers crossed. She plans on dropping off everything tomorrow. 

 

The other appointments open where for the 19th. 

Roberto

 

 

My fiancé has the exact same date and time!  Muchos éxitos en la entrevista!

23 hours ago, andreaam said:

You can email the embassy letting them know that you want to schedule the interview and there aren’t any available. Ask what you should do. It happened the same to me and I did what I just told you and they answered the next day saying they opened more. Let us know if you have any updates  

Totally worked!  There were two dates available this morning when I logged in.  One for the 5th of June and one for the 18/19 (can’t remember which) of June.  Thank you SO much for the tip.

We got the email from the embassy with the P3 instructions about a week after our application arrived at the embassy (we were in the April 29/30 batch).  So basically since May 13th we’ve been checking the web-site everyday and there are no appointments available.  Major bummer since we have all of our P3 paperwork ready to go.  Fingers crossed they post dates soon.  Just wanted to let you know I haven’t seen any available appointments and we check multiple times a day.