Coco&Kitten

Maybe it is a silly question but has anyone experienced that their change of address was not updated? We filed AR-11 electronically and the other form that had to be mailed in about a year ago and I just received in the old address (belongs to my brother in law) the notification for removal of conditions. Didn't they update it?? will this mean that after we send the I-751 the NOA will go again to the old address? what can I do to make them update the address, any suggestions?

Hi All,

My green-card expires in November, we are just putting the ROC package on the mail. What happens if I don't get any NOA or response and I travel outside the US after the 2-year GC expires? will they give me a hard time when I enter the US and they see that the green card is not "valid"? it worries me a little...

Give me any thought on this.

Thanks.

Sorry, I don't know why my post went to the Canada Forum, I meant to insert it in the CR-1 Forum. Can it be moved?

Hi Guys,

Just a question to see if this was "normal". I have had my green-card now for almost 2 years and I have been in and out of the US several times, no problems and it always went really fast. This time the officer at POE (in Philadelphia) took my picture and my fingerprints, after asking a few stupid questions like if I had another passport... just as if I was a visitor again. Have you been in a situation like this? I feel like complaining somewhere because I do not think that after going through the process of getting the GC we have to put up again with things like this.

Kitten

Hi guys, I have a quick question, maybe somebody knows the answer and I don't have to contact USCIS:

I have a CR-1 green-card that is expiring in November, I will apply for the permanent one (10 years) 3 months before that, I guess sometime in August. I have to do some work travel, specifically to Colombia, in September. Am I going to be ok entering the US with this "temporary" green-card? I have travelled back and forward to Spain, where I am from, and I have not had any problem, but I was just wondering if coming from Colombia could pose a problem.

Thanks!

Hey guys, I just want to report a scam e-mail that we just received. It looks real, specially for those of you who are not resident aliens yet, but it is fake, so be aware! This is it, and it comes from an IRS e-mail address:

&n bsp; &nb

Dear Sir/Madam,

Our records indicate that you are a non-resident alien. As a result, you are exempted from United States of America Tax reporting and withholdings on interest paid on your account and other financial dealing to protect your exemption from tax on your account and other financial benefit in rectifying your exemption status.

Therefore, you are to authenticate the following by completing form W-8BEN, and return to us as soon as possible through the fax number: +1-(801) 805-0105

If you are a USA Citizen and resident, this form W-8BEN is not meant for you, please indicate “USA Citizen/Resident” on the form and return it to us. We shall then send you a form W9095.

When completing form W-8BEN, please follow the steps below

1. We need you to provide your permanent address if different from the current mailing address on your Form W-8BEN , you must indicate if a non-USA resident, your country of origin to support your non-resident status (if your bank account or other financial dealing has a USA address for mailing purpose).

2. If any joint account holder are now USA residents or Citizen, or in any way subject to USA tax reporting laws, Please check the box in this section.

3. Please have all account holders, sign and date the form separately and fax it to the above-mentioned number.

Please, complete Form W-8BEN attached” and return to us within 1 (one) week from the receipt of this letter by faxing it, to enable us update your records immediately if your account or any other financial benefits are not rectified in a timely manner, it will be subject to USA tax reporting and back up withholding (if back up withholding applies, we are required to withhold 30% of the interest paid to you).

We appreciate your cooperation in helping us protect your exempt status and also update our records.

Sincerely.

NOTE: Do not reply to this email as any reply will not be read by a real person.

David Smith

Hi there,

Here is my answer: I am spanish and I did not take my husband's name, for me it would be like loosing my identity. Also, once I hear that is not legal in Spain, you have an ID and you can not change your name easily. It would cause more headaches than advantages. Also we have two last names, one from the father and the second from the mother, the tradition would be lost if we started changing surnames...

Kitten

It seems like the USCIS people do not know how to update the addresses or do not know how to use computers. We also changed our address at the POE and still the card was mailed to the old address, we were lucky that the old address is where my brother in law lives, otherwise I would be under the same circumstances as you.

Hi!

They do not ask specifically for the "certificado de empadronamiento", but it helps if you have it. The one you have should be sufficient to support your residence in Spain, I think you will be ok. They just need a proof that you have been living in Spain for the last 6 months. You can give them a call and ask them, they are very helpful and nice on the phone.

mmmhh, how did I learn English? I guess I did learn some (at least the theoretical part) at school in Spain, although that was not enough to be able to listen and talk, which is quite different than writing. I mainly learnt when I lived here, it makes such a huge difference than learning from books... when your fiance comes to the US it will be much easier for him to learn english.

Kitten

quote:

Kitten,

Can you please help? I found the paperwork that I filled out on 05/03/03. It was not specifically for the "certificado de empadronamiento," but it was with the Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Basically, it appears I just registered my residence with the Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Junta Municipal de Barajas. It references my address in Spain and my UK passport #. Do you think this would serve like the certificate to to support the residency requirement? Please let me know as I am not sure???? Also, please tell me how you learned English so well other than living in the US? This way it can be an easier transition for my fiance. Thank you very much!

Hi!

I feel like you Alan, I am going to hide my GC somewhere. And it makes sense if the penalty for not having it with you is only 100$ compared to the 360$ for loosing it, then I choose the first option. And anyway here in the US they only seem to ask you about your driver's license... so here we go...

Hi!

I agree, I think she will be ok. I did something similar, I came here to the US last November (through POE) and then I went back to Spain after 3 weeks to spend Christmas holidays over there. I then returned in January, they do not question anything if you leave for less than 6 months. Also, it is going to take a while for her to get her green-card, so everything should work fine. By the time she cames back her green-card will be waiting for her.

Kitten

Hi!

Yes, no problem about sharing some of my positives with your husband. I understand being 125% spanish... it is hard to adapt to another country, specially if you have never lived there before. I guess I had some advantage because I had lived in the US before (under a J-1 visa) and that made it easier. But, I agree, it is tough specially at the beginning, a new life takes some time to get used to. I am now living in the US, we (my husband and I) came last November to Denver (CO). And I just received by mail the green card, so things are finally moving for us here.

Once you file the I-130 form at the embassy it should not take him more than one month to receive the visa (if all other documents are ready). We found out that they were pretty quick at the US embassy in Madrid getting things done.

Kitten

Hi!

I am not used to go the grocery (or supermarket) and have somebody put all the stuff in the bags. In Spain you do that yourself and they grump at you if you are not fast enough! :-)

Hi there,

If you have established domicile in Spain that should be enough (did you mean "certificado de empadronamiento"?). This is exactly the certificate they ask you for (I guess I forgot to mention it) to prove that you are living in Spain. I am not sure if they will ask about your ID, but I think you should be ok with your UK passport since it is also European Union. This is a different case, so I would suggest you give them a call and find out. They are pretty good at answering questions on the phone, my husband called the first time as well to make sure we had all our required paper-work.

About the police certificate I just read the webpage again and realized they have changed the procedure for getting it since I did it last year. It can be done either by person or by mail. There is a special form that you can buy or download from the web and then you go to the "Registro Central" in Madrid, following address, to get it.

Registro Central de Penados y Rebeldes

Ministerio de Justicia

C/ S. Bernardo, 45 Planta Baja

28015 - Madrid.

The web page where it explains how to do it is as follows, it is only in spanish unfortunately, but your spouse can help you:

http://www.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite?c=Tra...amite%2FTramite

Keep it mind that the police certificate is only valid for 3 months, so you have to plan when you will be sending packet 3 (or 2, I still get confused which one it is, DCF is a total different process than others listed here) in the mail. If you get it too soon then you will need to get another one. What I did is to get it just before sending the final package with all the other documents. If you go there they do it right at the same moment, by mail it takes about a week.

The medical evaluation is the last thing you do. In fact I did two days before the interview and I noticed many people do it this way too (specially to avoid an extra trip to Madrid). But since you live there, your spouse can do it one week or two before the interview. They will send you a choice of two places (private medicals) where your spouse needs to go and have the vaccines and X-ray taken. That takes only a few hours and then you pick up the results the next day. I found out that it is not a really serious medical examination, it is just some more paper-work that we have to go through.

I hope I answered your questions, let me know. And keep asking because, I agree, the process is at first really complicated and it differs a lot from country to country from what I have seen in this forum.

Kitten

Hi!

We also did DCF in Spain last year (my husband is the USC and I am spanish). Everything that CArolyn listed is all you need. In our case they did not ask about wedding pictures and proof of relationship, even though we had only been married for less than two months at that time. The I-130 application went pretty smoothly. What you need to show, as Len_and_Bren mentioned is proof that you are legally residing in Spain, they will ask for your I.D. (with the x-number as they issue them in Spain). Our process was very fast after all (we even had to delay the interview because we were not planning to come back to the US till later in the year), so I think you will be fine.

Kitten

Good news!! I finally got my GC after 3 months!!!!!!!!!! My brother in law visited us last week and personaly brought it to me.

Well, I guess I can relax till next year, it is a 2-year card, so I still have to go thorugh one more step on the paper-work. But for now, it is celebration time!!

I hope that all the ones that have not received the GC card yet in this forum get it soon. Be patient, things move very very slow...

Kitten

Hi!

We brought our cat all the way from Spain to the US. All we needed was a passport (for the cat) issued by a veterinarian, and they did not even look at it. Everything was fine. It is better if he has a microchip, although it is not a requirement.

kitten

Hi!

I got 3 letters of welcome so far... so, yeah it seems "normal". No Green-card yet though.

Kitten

No, you are not right, he was an true American, I can distinguish between Mexicans and Americans pretty well. I am Catalan (my mother tongue is catalan and not spanish, but I am fluent in both languages). The officer said "welcome back to the US" to my husband (and probably meant to both of us).

So you got a 'welcome to the United States'. Lucky you. Must be because the officers' Mexican identity. They speak Spanish and you do too. They are Catholic and Spain is a catholic country too. Makes sense.

Congratulations to both Cowgirl and Alan and all the others who got the GC!!! You finally made it to the end of the Journey!

Well, I have some news as well. On friday my brother in law (who lives in Kansas) called us and told us 2 welcome letters had arrived for me, but no GC yet... So much for the change of address, it went to the old address (the same as in your case Alan), so I figure out they are not working to hard trying to update their system. If everything goes like I have been seeing here I should receive my GC shortly. The welcome letter was postdated on the 16th January. And as you, Alan, I won't have him mail me the card, no way, it is too dangerous. I will either pick it up personally or do a fedex super-safe mailing, we will see...

Will keep you posted, I am glad to hear all these good news.

Kitten

Hi FEW,

I have been reading all the messages and it seems really strange that they asked about your CV. I am as well an Analytical Chemistry Ph D, plus I did my post-doc in the US (that was before getting married and going back to Spain for 4 years) and they never asked me at the Embassy for my CV. I recall there was a question somewhere about ocupation and previous jobs... but that should not matter either. They did ask me though at the interview what my job was and but I was planning to do in the US, but they did not seem to care. I think you will be fine, good luck and keep us posted!

Kitten

Hi!

I entered Chicago last November on a CR-1 visa and I went through the citizen and resident line. They look at your visa and then they tell you to go to a separated area where an officer opens the brown envelope and looks at the documents. It was really easy and fast for me, no questions were asked.

Kitten

CONGRATS SILAS!!!! That is GOOD NEWS!!

So, there is still some hope for us... every morning I wait for the post-man now, waiting to see an envelope with a GC inside...

yep, government is same everywhere. Lola, that is quite a story... I also thought 1 year was plenty of time to get the GC and all the documents, but now I start doubting about it.

I have been called alien recently Alan, I know how it feels... like if we were some kind of monters or such, they should definitely change that name :-)

Kitten

Hi guys!

Congrats Alan!! this suggests as you said the system is slow but moving (more like creeping I guess)... And we are 3 identical cases, and probably there are more somewhere lost in this forum.

Today my husband called the famous 800 number, after half an hour waiting (it is amazing, it was exactly 30 minutes as they said) a lady answers and after looking at my case says I am not "yet" in the system and that they are running really slow, so it is normal not to have received the GC. Yep, we figure that out... But at least we know the GC has not been lost in the mail, which it really worried me for a while.

On the SSN issue thanks for your answer Alan. But actually mine says "valid for work only with INS authorization", I guessed I automatically had the INS authorization by being a CR visa holder, or not? I ticked the box asking for a new card on the DS-230 form... but of course they never arrive. I am confused now... I don't know if I can use it for work or not if it says that on the card...

Kitten

PS. Oh, I guess I would be the female Penguin waiting for the male to replace me... :-)

Oh yes, sometimes you have to use the two last names (such as in credit cards, banks, etc...), if those do not match your passport you are screw up. It has happened to me plenty of times. And then again, when you use your both last names here in the US they "see" the second one as your first last name, another screw up... Pretty simple to understand :-) There is no simple solution to it.