Quarknase

So my view at the time was that the normal action in a normal marriage would be to enroll the spouse from date of marriage, send that in as front-load on the I-130, and send her to interview with an insurance card stapled to the support affidavit.  

There was not and still isn’t a specified qualifying event “spouse arrived in the US” that opens enrollment for them to be added whenever it is convenient, leaving the time between US arrival and next open enrollment as a gray and possibly highly risky area while waiting to be insured.

You are correct and the IO’s are not dumb. That goes for utility and pest control bills.

It would be unusual to have joint accounts before US entry.
 
Open enrollment allows addition of spouse after marriage to health insurance.  This would be a normal action.  Bonus:  Spouse shows up all insured at interview with a card to prove it.
 
Banking?  My wife was carrying a debit card around.  She was using it to close out business and get things together to move. 
 
She might not have been named on the account, but she could demonstrate that she could access the account if she needed to.  

Everything else - beneficiary info, etc, generally has to wait on a SS card.  If they can be added to life insurance/retirement great, but it isn’t expected.

Adding an overseas spouse to the pest control bill looks like creating evidence to be honest.
 
 

Not necessarily. But a married couple is never too young or too healthy for a will. We spent the first two years of married life on separate continents but my husband was still the beneficiary of my employee life insurance through my employer. 

Generally, no. That's more common among people living in the US already, or at least living together abroad.
Being beneficiaries on policies, retirement accounts, insurance, healthcare, etc. is something that can be done without residency together.

Thank you for sharing your story ♥️
 
I am so so sorry for that you had to go through all that 😔 But my starts (like they say here) how strong woman you are! Good job getting out of that kind of marriage.
 
Thank you for your support ♥️ I have been so alone with this thought about fighting my way trough this. Every Finn who is living a safe life here (money comes from their husbands) has all those opinions what I should do and how hopeless situation I have. I am sad that they don’t see that I have strength to go trough this. I don’t know all the options I have (which is the reason I wrote here the first time) but all the time I have had this thought that me and my daughter will survive from this and going to start our own life here and then later on move if I feel like it. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing your story♥️♥️ This will keep me going ♥️
 
And Frohe Weihnachten, Hyvää Joulua, Merry Christmas to you and your husband 🎄😊

Hi
First, thank you for showing so much love towards our country 🇫🇮♥️
 
That is right that Finland is in some things much better country to leave than US. My personal decision to still stay here and not go straight away is really simple: I just moved my whole life to US last March. I sold everything and gave up my home and job and everything. We came here, went through the hardest missing home phase, settled here and started building our life here. Not to even mention the money (over $7000) we have spent.
 
Now when this happened from my husbands side is heart braking but as much as he has already done wrong, I don’t think that this should be a reason I again pack my whole life and again start from nothing. I can’t do it financially or have the strength to do it.
 
That I know that I will go back one day, but not in a panic, not this way, not because someone couldn’t what he promised to do.
 
But as soon as I get to work and settle down our lives here I can start making my own decision again, including decisions where to leave.
 
Thank you again for your lovely words about Finland 💖
 
and Hyvää Joulua (Merry Christmas) 😊
 
oh and P.S. My little child is already a 19 year old young lady 😊

Are you saying your petition got approved within 9 days? Holy moly. May I ask how you requested to expedite?
This is something I have never seen before - and you might very well be the first online filer to be approved. Ever
Congrats!

As long as you'll be physically safe in the meantime, good for you.  Best wishes.

I want to thank you all for your messages. At this time I would be gone already. I'm still afraid but we agreed to give ourselves another chance and to get therapy. I wish it helps us.
Thanks a lot again.

Lots of when's and if's.
 
Approval of I-130 does NOT allow you to stay. This must be very clear to you as overstay is not forgiven for spouses of LPR.
Having that said - IF the petition gets approved while your tourist visa still has some time AND the PD for F2A is current at that time, you are eligible to file I-485 for Adjustment of Status. Upon acceptance (receipt notice), you are granted authorized stay while the petition is pending. You will not be able to leave and RETURN to the US during this time, unless you file I-131 with the I-485 and get approval of advance parole before you leave the country.
 
I personally recommend to not do this, if the end of the visa is near. If your I-485 acceptance date is past the visa expiration date, you have accrued overstay. 
 

Your i130 needs to be approved and your PD needs to be current for you to be able to apply for AOS before your tourist visa expires in order for you to be able to stay within status..
 
if you entered on a 6 month visa and submitted i130 on arrival, I find it highly unlikely that the i130 would be approved in less than 6 months.. chances are you’ll need to leave, or you’ll be out of status. 
 
You are not married to a USC therefore you are not forgiven for any overstay, and must leave before your tourist visa expires if you have not submitted AOS application by that time. 
 
what is your PD for i130? Please fill out timeline, it helps others to assist. 

I clarified above your post....apologies for the confusion to everyone.

I have never heard of this being possible....but, when you are ready to file for Removal of Conditions on the 2-year conditional residency there is a section where you can fill out for VAWA. In this case, you would need to provide proof of the abuse (therapy sessions documenting his rage, police reports, photos of the abuse, affidavits from relatives on the abuse, hospital records/admittance regarding any abuse, etc.)
Are your conditional GCs already on its way to your address?

I would not chance it for a vacation.  You have come this far, you can wait 6 weeks to file when you return.  

It's still in effect according to USCIS's policy manual.  Time outside under certain circumstances (ie.  certain military members, or those working abroad for certain qualifying organizations) preserves continuous presence requirements.
 
https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3   (Scroll down to part D and E.)
 
Edited to add:  As others mentioned, if time outside is due to vacation/other purposes it can be updated during the interview.

Your biometrics letter is posted online  just go into your online account and review it when it comes you don;t have to wait for any mail.
We walked in a week before the scheduled date. You can to or if you are out of town rerschedule

In theory yes, in reality I haven't spent more than 6 weeks in a row at home for a while, hence I'm trying to coordinate what works best

Best solution is for u to apply when you return home. No issues!

If the online applic allows it, I would put the future return date. imo I don't think that it's not a big deal if you're no way close to breaking the physical presence and continuous residence requirements, and you're sticking to the countries that you listed. But I would only apply around 1-2 weeks before I have to return so that that I won't miss the biometrics appt  that is usually done 3 weeks after application. I submitted mine 3 days before a 11-day domestic trip and had my biometrics appt 6 days afterwards.

That's probably the smartest thing to do. I'll prepare everything and hit "send" and press "pay" from abroad  
Thanks a lot!

We missed ours for the Removal of Conditions.  After reading online people said they just went and it was no big deal.  We just drove down and no one said a thing...checked us in and did the biometrics and the case updated online to fingerprints received. 
 
In the meantime, we called to reschedule and got attitude from the level 1 rep and said we had to reschedule with a level 2 rep who were not taking more calls that day.
 
Others who went late reported no problems at all.  

That is why I mentioned if you get the biometrics appointment letter online to reschedule. Print off the letter and reschedule according to what the letter states. If you have your itinerary great, if not share that you have business to attend to and will be out of the country. I believe they will reschedule. I don't even you have to have a reason to reschedule. Be careful though to not not reschedule a lot. 

makes one get scared about which accountant to trust with ones own taxes lol.

That's incorrect. One is allowed to file as married filing single instead of married filing jointly. That way you prevent having to obtain the ITIN number.
One is NOT allowed to file as single while married.