neophi

39 minutes ago, Malauriea said:

Where did you apply (state and office?). Some states and offices are faster than others 

I applied Online and my local office is Oakland Park, FL.

Wow, we filed on January 3rd and have the interview scheduled for April 8th. On the one hand I'm amazed as I had never heard of such a quick turnaround time, but on the other, I had seen a 4-month timeline on the website for someone filing online and with our same local office. So not completely surprised.

USCIS' own estimate shows December 2020, which is weird given the interview date has been given.

Thanks to this website I haven't spent a single dime on lawyers. Oh, and for what it's worth, we applied with an expired green card.

Hello,

My sister-in-law is in an emotionally abusive relationship. She and her daughter are O-3 Visa holders while the husband of course is O-1. I believe they filed for I-485 as they already received their EAD and are waiting for the—what I assume is—the AOS approval.

I read the information on this FAQ page but it only talks about K-1 visa holders.

In any case, sister-in-law wants to divorce (they were already separated once for a few months) and is not only worried about the child custody but also her residency.

Would a divorce affect the pending AOS decision at all?

Also, if the AOS is rejected (for any reason, related or unrelated to divorce) are they immediately out of status or is their I-94 what determines this?

Thanks.

Check out my signature at the bottom (or my time line)! My wife was a K-3 Visa holder and we filed for AOS in May. Yesterday we had our interview and got our Permanent Residence granted (since we've been married for 2+ years).

We also got the e-mail saying the card production was ordered.

Hey guys. Thanks for all the congratulations. We traveled to San Gil right after we got approved on Monday for some quality Colombian vacations. Hadn't had a chance to get online until today, but as Byron and MV-JR mentioned, we also got the papers in the mail yesterday (Thursday, 2 business days after interview).

We'll be leaving for Miami next Thursday. I'll post details on the quickie interview when I get a chance.

Take it easy and congrats to the rest.

I would just indicate she's a student or last was a student. If there's question of how she supported herself, she can simply say she sometimes helps her family by playing in their "band". If questioned about the "none" vs. "student" she can just say her husband made a stupid mistake. I'm sure the CO will just laugh it off. Both mine and my wife's G-325a's said we didn't have a husband or wife. It was never a problem but I do wonder if anybody got a laugh out of that stupid mistake.

Yeah well actually there was no need to support herself, as she's always lived with her parents. And once we got married, I was also helping her financially for all the extra stuff she needed for pregnancy and then for our born baby.

But yeah I don't think it will be a big deal at this point. If anything they should have pointed that out at the USCIS stage.

Thanks for the opinions.

Haha no problem. Thanks.

Btw, my wife went to the medical exam today with Dr. Roa and it went fine. Rumors on Dr. Roa seem to but just that. Myth is bust imo.

She did have to get undressed and in the robe, but she never felt uncomfortable and he didn't give her any bad vibes, nor weird looks. That goes a long way because my wife is very discerning.

Hey guys I need a little advice.

My wife and I bumped heads recently after noticing something. On the G-325A it asks to list your past jobs/employers. For my wife's G-325A, I made the big mistake of putting None. You see, she and her family are musicians, and they have been paid many times to perform concerts but with no specific employer (I guess in other industries this can be paralleled to freelancing). Technically, we could have put her family as the employer, and her occupation as a musician. In addition, she has always been a student, so that's another reason why I didn't bother with specifying employment info (oddly enough, now that I'm checking the G-325A, we didn't even mention her "last occupation abroad" was Student, but instead I also put in None.)

Anyway, things get a little more complicated now, because not only could we have technically put her family as an employer, and her occupation as either a Musician or Student, but for the past couple of years she and her family have in fact have had all their contracts issued by the same organization (Filarmonica de Bogota) which can probably qualify as an employer. (They are not employees of that organization, they just get their contracts issued from that organization, again kind of like any type of freelancer.)

Now to the real issue/question at hand (sorry for all that back-story but it was necessary). Form DS-157, which is supplemental to from DS-156, asks for the last two employers if any, not including the current. We are totally undecided on what to put there. On the one hand, my wife believes we would be lying if we put "None" (maybe it's her feminine pride influencing?), but on the other hand I do not want to have any discrepancy between the forms and I think said organization is technically not her past employer, as she has never worked FOR them but rather WITH them. (I hate it when it all boils down to semantics.)

The CO can easily compare the forms and notice the discrepancy if we put a past employer on the DS-157, and raise questions we definitely have answers for, albeit "Sorry, it was our mistake when completing G-325A," and further explain, but then what if they they now want further evidence and want to reschedule the interview.

So then, should we just keep the forms consistent and continue to put in no past employers?

What would be more likely to cause the CO to request further evidence? Thanks for any and all advice, suggestions, or opinions.

Hey all. Tomorrow I am going to go through the thread and find the top 10 Q's. Last day .

What is going on with this project Ewok?

I think there is turmoil on Endor.

May God bless us all on Monday as well as the CO!

This question arose during a conversation between my wife and I, and I was just wondering if anyone had an answer. If my wife and I have a child in the United States, can we apply for Colombian citizenship for the child, so that the child can have both U.S. and Colombian citizenship? Or would the child have to be born in Colombia in order to do that?

Sure... and if its a boy you can count on the young man being expected to do military service in Colombia... 18 months of it unless he got out of it.

lol I've had dual citizenship ever since I can remember and I did high school (except for senior year) in Bogota and never had to do military service. If that would ever happen just renounce the Colombian citizenship or defect back to the U.S. If you ever get caught on the street just play it as a gringo.

And now that I think about it, as far as I know, none of my friends from school did military service ever (even as Colombian citizens only). Maybe by paying libreta militar or something as someone mentioned in a previous post.

Benefits? None in the short run that I can think of other than voting in both countries but what if the U.S. crumbled or something you'll always also be a Colombian. Plus, if you ever decide moving back to Colombia you need your citizenship to work (unless you have a foreign business or something).

PS: SEE YOU GUYS ON MONDAY AT 5:30AM. Let me cut in line if I get there late hahahaha.

PSS: Thanks Bill and Bella for remembering us! Heheh.

Have a safe trip Scott! Good luck.

Anybody have an updated number for Dr. Gonzalez listed in the Bogota embassy section? I called the one listed but cannot get thru?!

Bundy

I think he's on vacations.

I have since read that, according to the Department of State, the I-134 is in fact, not considered legally binding. It is only the I-864, and that one doesn't ask for any bond.

Exactly. I think that statement is only as a sign of good faith for the Embassy. Make sure your buddy checks "I intend" in question #8 and states he is willing to furnish a room and board.

I have to agree with pushbrk though, it's kind of weird that someone refers to his future wife as "someone from Britain who wants to live here. Not that I'm judging you or anything.

I posted these questions in Colombia Club, but they quickly got lost amongst the flood of messages. So I am reposting them here.

First off. Does anyone have a scan or PDF of the Bogota K-3 Packet 3 in Spanish? I found a PDF in English from a link in Colombia Club. A Spanish version would be helpful for my wife.

Second,

We are still waiting for our NOA2 and consequently our interview is still several months away. However, I don't believe in leaving things for the last minute so we are starting the document gathering for my wife.

As far as I can tell from the Colombia Club thread and the Packet 3 PDF, we will need the following documents for her. This list does not include the medical exams or vaccinations.

1. Passport

2. Fe de bautismo. (Original o copia autenticada)

3. Registro Civil (Original o copia autenticada)

4. Certificado Judicial del DAS (Original)

5. Carta del DAS (Migratorio), entradas/salidas (Original)

6. Registro Civil de Matrimonio (Original o Copia autenticada)

We are starting with getting her passport as this won't expire for years. However, I understand that the other documents have requirements as to how recently they must have been issued. What are those limits for the various documents?

Thanks,

CG

Just to give a quick reply... (And yeah, the Colombia Club thread is more geared towards people who have gotten to the NOA2 stage.)

I think if you got to the Bogotá Embassy website I think you should find a Spanish version. If not, have you tried Google? I have a Packet 3 spanish version at home, so I'll try to post it if you haven't found it yet.

As for the documents' validity, I believe the norm is 1 year, but probably not for all documents. Also, the Fe de bautismo needs to have Notas Marginales. I don't know where your wife lives but in Bogotá getting a passport only takes you like 3 hours at the most. It's one of the few very efficient government processes.

Home sweet home.

You need to double check this information because my husband had to have 1 of the shots there and it was close to $90 dollars, just for the one they said he needed. The lady I spoke to that day had 2 of her sons with her as well and she ended up paying close to $500 dollars for the 3 of them. Check and triple check these prices with the office.

Diana

Now I'm a little confused. I think you may have a point. They charge COP$135,000 for the appointment/medical exam, but I'm assuming the vaccines that my wife is missing will cost extra?

My wife says she has to take her vaccination records, and that they will only apply what is not on there. I'm going to tell her to call Dr. Roa's office again and ask that question, and if she has to take them there. It may be cheaper to do through her EPS (Sanitas) although I'm not sure since maybe vaccines are not covered.

Ok my last question was just answered by Byron.

Byron, did you guys schedule an appointment already?

Hey so should we go ahead and start getting the appointments even though we haven't received Packet 4?

Also, do both lab and physical exams have to be done within 1 week before the interview? Or is it just the vaccines? Are the vaccines at the lab or at the physical appointment?

Kind of confused.

3 years of tax information? I thought only last year's W-2 and tax returns (plus a couple of pay stubs) were required.

JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH DOS...HAVE THE INTERVIEW DEC 31ST AT 7:00 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IM IN A STATE OF SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL, awesome! Congratulations! I guess I'll see you there, Byron! I'll beat you to the line at 5:30AM if my wife can wake me up. I'll race ya!

Congratulations on the visa, Brian & Yenys!!

Yeah, actually what I meant was that my interview was scheduled today, and packet 4 was sent out to my wife. Yesterday nothing had happened.

Guys, the interview was finally scheduled. I'm scheduled for December 31st... wow what a date. Bad news is I'm gonna have to travel to Colombia (well it's always nice to go home, but I wasn't planning on spending an extra plane ticket). The good news is she'll be here for early January and I might even come back with her.

Try calling DOS see if your interviews have been scheduled, i.e. MV-JR.

If you buy tickets this late in the game, they will cost you an arm and a leg. You need to get them months in advance, even though you might get lucky and get a good fare later on. But why gamble?

Diana

True but sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find a travel agency that has unsold tickets that will lower the price.

Congratulations. God bless you and your family. Thank God everything went smoothly at POE.