Loveofmyife

First off,  thank you to this forum and community. I have learned all of our AOS filing and my wife's transition here to the states from these forum. We had good news in that our AOS processing was approved and Green Card sent in 5 months. When we first applied all of the estimates for AOS approval was estimated to take close o a year, and  EAD AP approval estimates is December, 2019 or  January 2020.

We were very anxious and had to change some plans due to this estimate but at this point, we are just thankful that my wife received her Greencard last week, the first week of November after our End of October Interview. The overall lesson we can impart is to not make any travel plans until you get your AP aproved.

The process seems to have gotten faster and we are very grateful, Thanks again to all here.

13 hours ago, MrsRo said:

Another June AOS here! Had my biometrics last Thursday (11th) and still waiting for the case status to change on the tracker grrrhh. 

14 hours ago, SveDem said:

Super overdue to post here. 
The wait for the work authorization is all on our minds. 

Early June AOS filer here, the wait for EAD and especially AP is on our mind as well... best of luck to all

Hello all!

Just checking in and wishing all of us the best of luck--- we filed our AOS, EAD AP forms last Friday, May 31 via Fedex--- they received it June 3 and hope to get our NOA soon. Thanks for all the support here! 

Thanks to everyone in this forum and thread, I was late to discover this forum,  but all the info and encouragement here helped during this unexpectedly long process. Thanks as well to Sarge and all the kind words in this long process and best of luck as well.   We were a May 2018 FILER too and it took us a year to get our approval for my fiance's visa, her interview was today and she got approved and she will be with me the soonest. We will get married her first week, after getting her SSN etc.. and will facilitate the AOS process as well.  We can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together and cheers to all. I'll see you guys in the May 2019 AOS thread, hopefully we make it that month. Kind Regards to all. 

7 hours ago, C90 said:

 

Ok Just to clarify:

1.Apply for SSN under her maiden name

2. Get married-- where she takes my last name

3. Apply for AOS Greencard with her married name/my last name

4. Change with SSN after AOS Application to change her maiden name to my last name , and with married status?

I hope this is the right step, we will do everything within a week or so of her arrival---Thanks so much 

On 4/16/2019 at 12:11 PM, DaveAndAnastasia said:

Check with your employer's rules on this. Mine would have needed documentation that we'd been living together for a year for this, so it wasn't worth trying to enroll Anastasia on my insurance until after we married (even if we hadn't married within a few days of POE).

 

 

Thanks, I'll definitely make phone calls now, I really want her to be in my health coverage the soonest, Thanks for the insight

On 4/16/2019 at 11:34 AM, Mike E said:

This is the order of events I recommend, which has worked for us (in California):

 

1. The day of or after point of entry (POE), enroll your fiancee into your employer's health insurance as a domestic partner. This is a life event and can be done outside open enrollment. They will ask for an SSN, but they cannot require one.

 

2. Wait 2-10 working days after point of entry (POE) and then apply for social security card. We waited 2 days to apply, and the card arrived 10 days after application. Do not get married until after you apply. So many times we read on visajourney about SS offices who refuse to process a SSN application if the K-1 is married.

 

3. After you apply for SS card, get married in a county where the marriage certificate takes no more than a week to arrive. Do not change her name. There is plenty of time for name changes after she gets her green card.

 

4. Upgrade your domestic partner to a spouse in your employer's health insurance.  Another life event outside open enrollment.

 

5. After the SS card and marriage cert arrives, apply for state ID. California requires proof of residency. A marriage cert has an address. That plus proof of residence of the USA citizen spouse is enough for California to grant residency. Bring the letter from the SSA office that delivered the SS card too. Surprisingly, my wife got a California state ID good for several years, and not several months. Regardless, there are stories on visajourney about DMVs denying cards to people who apply 59 days or less before the K-1 visa expires. We applied at T minus 61 days.

 

6. Add you wife's SSN to your company health insurance.

 

7. Open a joint bank account. This has to be done in person IME. No online applications for non-LPRs/non-USCs.

 

8. Check your wife's credit score on line, and after you get a score, add your wife to your utility bill by phone. If you don't get a score, go to the utility office to add her.

 

9. Apply for AOS, EAD, AP. Use the health insurance card, utility bill, and bank account statement, and state ID as among the proof that she lives with you as your wife.

 

 

Great! Thanks so much Mika! This is a great timeline hopefully it works in New York. I think I should start filling up the AOS forms in draft especially that time is key for us. I very much appreciate the insight, Thanks all!

On 4/16/2019 at 11:08 AM, HP+IC said:

Marriage license is fast in NYC. Bank doesn't always need SSN, at least not the one we plan to deal with. Insurance doesn't always need SSN for a major family change. We are going to get married in a week after my arrival, say Friday arrived, Wednesday filed and got the license, Friday got married. Then file for the whole bunch at once. 

Great! Yes we want to do everything within a week or so, I'l call my bank, Thanks!

On 4/16/2019 at 8:43 AM, C90 said:

DL: Yes, but check the state rules. Some states only allow to get a DL once there's an EAD/green card. I think NYC only allows to get your DL with EAD/green card

 

Bank account: Depends on the bank. Our bank (capital one) needed my SSN for me to open an account, but they did allow my husband to add me as a authorized user on his cc without SSN. Know there's banks out there that don't need SSN

 

Health insurance: Usually yes if you want to add her to yours, but check your health insurance. Some apparently don't need it (my husbands health insurance did need it)

Thanks so much for all these insight

On 4/16/2019 at 9:08 AM, Cyberfx1024 said:

1. You should be able to do this without issue. 

2. Same as #1. 

3. Get the SSN first then get married. 

4. You can certainly do this but I do not know how long it takes to get the marriage license back in NYC. So try and do #2 first. 

Great! Thanks for the insight, the process is getting clear now and everyone had been so helpful. It's very much appreciated.

On 4/16/2019 at 8:43 AM, C90 said:

DL: Yes, but check the state rules. Some states only allow to get a DL once there's an EAD/green card. I think NYC only allows to get your DL with EAD/green card

 

Bank account: Depends on the bank. Our bank (capital one) needed my SSN for me to open an account, but they did allow my husband to add me as a authorized user on his cc without SSN. Know there's banks out there that don't need SSN

 

Health insurance: Usually yes if you want to add her to yours, but check your health insurance. Some apparently don't need it (my husbands health insurance did need it)

Thanks! That authorized user is definitely a good option if need be,  I'm preparing as it will be so hard for her to move around New York without access to our bank account. 

On 4/16/2019 at 8:54 AM, Letspaintcookies said:

Check that DL thing cause from what I know things are different when you're immigrating than from using the DL as tourist. I wouldnt be too sure that her license is really valid for that time

Thanks! And yes that's a good point, we'll research and see what's best-- I'll share here what I find out. 

2 minutes ago, C90 said:

DL: Yes, but check the state rules. Some states only allow to get a DL once there's an EAD/green card. I think NYC only allows to get your DL with EAD/green card

 

Bank account: Depends on the bank. Our bank (capital one) needed my SSN for me to open an account, but they did allow my husband to add me as a authorized user on his cc without SSN. Know there's banks out there that don't need SSN

 

Health insurance: Usually yes if you want to add her to yours, but check your health insurance. Some apparently don't need it (my husbands health insurance did need it)

Thanks payxiba and C90-- wil definitely look into it-- she does have a Philippine Driver's License and evidently she can use that for a year-- I just have to check with car insurance if I can get her covered with it.  Thanks again for all the info guys!

13 minutes ago, C90 said:

 

Hi C90!

Thanks so much for the very valuable insight-- this is great as off the top my head, I know we need her SSN to put her in my health insurance, open up a bank account and apply for a driver's license? not sure... Thanks so much, it's very much appreciated C90

Hello everyone,

First off thanks so much for all the good info and kindness in this forum. I'm preparing for my Fiance to finally come to America next month (May 2019) from the Philippines. Her interview is this April. We had some delays in processing and her Fiance Visa will take more than a year to process by the time she gets here in New York, we did use a lawyer and reading though this forum it seems that the process could had been faster as it always took time for the lawyer to prepare documents and process application as he seemed to outsource some work out of the USA and his staff outside the country seems slow to act when I compare it to the ones that did it on their own here, where they acted ASAP on their own.  I'm really considering doing it on my own now, because I know I can respond and follow up rapidly, our case is very straightforward and we genuinely fell in love with each other so much, and also my fiance thinks the $2200 we paid just for the fiance visa is too much. Any thoughts on this is highly appreciated.

Because of this all our schedule was thrown off, as we intend to have a church wedding in the Philippines in December 2019 . We are just happy  to be together. I promise to do my due diligence now and really understand the process. So the goal now is the get married the soonest when she gets here, so we can start the Adjustment Of Status right away and have an EAD and travel documents to prepare for our wedding. We need a trip before December to take care of wedding documentations and church seminars.

So my question is as follows:

1. We want to marry her first week and start AOS/ Green Card application ASAP.

2. Should we apply for her SSN (SS number)  right away (New York City)  and not wait for the 2 weeks recommendation here? In that way we can get married on the first week?

3. Or should we get married the first week , then apply for her SSN the second week?

4. Does it matter if we marry (her maiden name has changed to my last name) first then apply for her SSN?  

Any info and tip is highly appreciated, Thanks so much and looking forward to hearing from you soon.