chiggins

Do sponsors who completed an Affidavit of Support have to complete an AR-11 when they move, even if there is not currently an open case with the USCIS? My wife and I just bought a house, and when we moved about 3 years ago and I remember that I (a green card holder) had to file a Change of Address form, and so did my wife, as she was my sponsor for the Affidavit of Support. At the time I was still a conditional resident. I don't currently have an open case with the USCIS - I have my perminant card and will probably be applying for citizenship once the move is out of the way. I looked at the AR-11 and it doesn't have anywhere that would indicate the sponsor needs to fill it out, but the I-134 instructions say they do.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

I just got approved today too! With a very similar timeline - can't remember exact dates but we filed in late February, got the extention letter after about 2 weeks and had biometrics a week later. Just got the email a few hours ago that my new card has been ordered!

After all the BS we went through to get here, with a notice getting returned by the post office and unknowingly missing our Conditional Green Card interview as a result, and having to go through all kinds of ####### to get our case reopened - this is an incredible sigh of relief! No more USCIS for a while! horray!

Hi all,

My wife and I are in the process of preparing our I-751 packet to apply for removal of conditions on my green card, and we're planning on sending it this week. My parents are planning a vacation in Canada for August, and we were thinking about driving from Michigan over the land border crossing to visit them. My card expires at the end of March, which should give the USCIS plenty of time to send the NOA. I've read that you can use your expired green card and the NOA (as well as my British passport) as proof of residency when returning to the US until the I-751 is approved and your new card arrives. Has anyone had any experience with this? Any troubles, or anything I should be concerned with? I'd like to know if it's going to be a big hassle getting back into the US before we start making travel arrangements.

Thanks!!

Hi all,

My wife and I are in the process of preparing our I-751 packet to apply for removal of conditions on my green card, and we're planning on sending it this week. My parents are planning a vacation in Canada for August, and we were thinking about driving from Michigan over the land border crossing to visit them. My card expires at the end of March, which should give the USCIS plenty of time to send the NOA. I've read that you can use your expired green card and the NOA (as well as my British passport) as proof of residency when returning to the US until the I-751 is approved and your new card arrives. Has anyone had any experience with this? Any troubles, or anything I should be concerned with? I'd like to know if it's going to be a big hassle getting back into the US before we start making travel arrangements.

Thanks!!

You'll have to notify them of the address change at some point, as will your spouse - he/she is the sponsor and is also required to notify the USCIS of any change of address. As to whether or not it will delay the application - I guess it is possible, I'm not really sure. Your local office will have your file if your interview is coming up, and the NBC might send for it to change the address. Whether you want to do it now or wait until after the interview is up to you. Personally, if you can still get your mail at your in-laws, then it probably wouldn't matter a whole lot to wait, but I'm unsure of the legal consquences of this.

You just need passport photographs of the foreign spouse, and yes, you need a total of 6.

rahma's right - K-1'a are entitled to apply for an EAD but it last only 90 days, and given the current waiting times it would probably expire before you got it. The SSA's policy is about issuing social security numbers - basically you are legally able to work "with DHS authorization", therefor you can get a SS card, but can't work without the EAD. It seems the people at social security offices don't come accross this too often, as some offices do not let people have numbers even though they are technically entitled to one. I printed out that information from SSA.gov and showed it to the guy at the social security office and managed to convince him.

As for the vaccination suppelement, its for I-693A, which is available somewhere online - I'm sure if you search through this forum you'll find a link. The civil surgeon should have this anyway. Make sure you call around to get prices for the suppelement, as it can vary greatly, and don't let them convince you that you need another medical - its not true, they just want their money.

You wouldn't need you're old I-94, as it would get taken out of your passport when you left the U.S. anyway. As for the advance parole, I'm not sure of the legality of it or how sucessful it would be. I think I read of someone recently who sucessfully used theirs after being approved for their green card. Personally I would be reluctant to use it, but if it's ok, why not.

I don't think there's a specific amount of time, but the longer you stay out of the country, the higher the chances of questions being asked when you return, or even not being allowed to return. I'd try and keep it within reason - no more than a few months.

1. You'll probably want to get it done before the K-1 visa expires just to be on the safe side, which is 90 days after entering the U.S, but technically there is no time limit for filing.

2. If you submit your AOS application within a year of your overseas medical, then you don't need another one. You will however need to get the vaccination supplement done by a U.S. civil surgeon, which you will want to submit with your application if you can. Check the USCIS website for a list of surgeons in your area, and call around to get prices, as they can vary greatly. Don't let them talk you into getting another exam though.

3. You should mail it all together if you want your EAD and AP as soon as possible. You can mail your EAD and AP later if you want, but you will need to submit your AOS first, and wait for the receipt to arrive in the mail as you need to submit a copy with the EAD and AP applications.

Since right now the AOS is technically denied, he must stop working... Don't let them use that as an excuse to deny another one!

This is correct - Since your AOS is technically denied, the EAD is invalid. It will become valid again once the MTR is approved. You cannot apply for an EAD renewal until your MTR is approved - they'll just deny it. I had this happen - when I applied, I was not aware that my AOS case had been denied, so the EAD application was also denied.

To be honest, even if your MTR got approved today, the chances of the EAD application getting approved before the end of May is fairly unlikely. It's harsh, I know - I've been out of work for nearly 4 months now and only just received my green card (and therefor employment authorization) 2 weeks ago.

I didn't submit mine and never got RFE'ed - I just got it done for the interview and handed it in there. I would recommend sending it with your application though, if you can, just to be on the safe side.

The medicals are valid for 1 year, however in my case, it had been closer to 2 years by the time my interview came around, and I was never questioned about it. I think the general rule is that so long as you submit your AOS application within a year of the K-1 medical, then you should be fine.

She will, however, need the vaccination supplement, which she can get from a Civil Surgeon (see the USCIS website to find one in your area). It's worth calling around to get prices, as it can vary quite a lot from place to place. Don't let the civil surgeon's office convince you that she needs another full medical - this simply isn't the case. When I was getting my vaccination supplement, one place told me I needed the full medical and wanted $185 for it, yet another place would do just the supplement for $40.

If you're going to start the whole thing again, then there's not much point in pursuing the MTR, and seeing as you've already started it, you may as well see what happens and save yourself $385. I'd contact your congressman's office, give it a few weeks and see what happens.

I was going to go with checks, but my local office did not accept third-party checks, and at the time of filing I did not have a bank account. I used money orders from the Post Office and never had a problem.

When denials are issued, the case file is sent to a place where closed files are stored and when a motion to reopen is made, they have to call up the file from the storage place and work on it

This is what happened to us. Unfortunatly the USCIS is full of red tape like this, and it can take forever to get the simplest thing done. I filed a motion to reopen in early December, we received an interview notice mid-February, and the case was 'officially' reopened and approved on the day of our interview, March 23rd. Unfortunatly, because the biometrics haven't been done yet, this probably won't happen with your case.

-ditto, there's one case here like yours and she was able to get a letter from the post office/postman that she didn't received the mail that's a proof it's not your fault. I'm sorry this is so sad.

We did this too, and it worked like a charm. I would strongly recommend getting your local representative involved. Our congressman's office was very helpful when we had problems.

Good luck - My interview in Detroit was a breeze, hope yours is just as easy! I also know how tough the job market is in Michigan right now, so you have my sympathy!

Well yesterday my wife and I had our AOS interview in Detroit - and I have to admit it was the most anti-climactic experience of my life.

Our appointment was scheduled for 2pm, and we arrived around 1.30 to find the parking lot completely full, so we got suckered into paying $5 to park in a rather shady parking lot across the street. We went through security and put my interview letter in the tray and waited. About 2 hours later, the standing room only waiting room had fizzled down to maybe a dozen people, so we were getting a little worried that they had forgotten us. My name finally got called by who possibly could be the friendliest officer we've ever come across. He walked us to his cubicle, swore us in and asked us to have a seat. He then confirmed that it was me, and asked for my passport. He confirmed my date of birth, my address and where I was from. He then took the I-94 out of my passport, and asked what my last POE was. I'm guessing their records showed it as Minneapolis from my K-1, but he knew I had used AP since then, and asked if he could have a copy of the AP document, which I gave him.

He then said that myt vaccination records were not with the application and asked if I had the supplement, which I did. He commented that he was glad I had it, as he didn't want to hold the case up any longer. He then asked my wife for her ID, and complimented her on the good picture. He went on to ask me the standard "are you a terrorist" questions from the I-485 application, and then asked to see a few documents that showed that we lived together. I pulled out our 2005 joint taxes, and 2 bank statements. That was all he wanted. No pictures, nothing. He also asked for my co-sponsors 2004 taxes, and 2005 if we had them (which we didn't, but we had W-2s which seemed to satisfy him). Our new affidavits, which we went to so much trouble to get, were never asked for lol.

And that was pretty much it! He said he is approving the case. He never asked any questions about how we met or anything. There was a little small-talk in there regarding what kind of career I was looking to get into and what-not, but it seemed like he was aware that they had screwed up the application previously, and seemed genuinly interested in working it out for us. He then explained the process of lifting conditions and applying for citizenship, and asked us to sign a form saying that he had explained it, and gave us a copy. Then he stamped my passport (to my surprise) and said the green card should arrive in a few weeks!

And that was it! Almost 2 years of stress and worry for 10 minutes of chit-chat! Maybe now we can move out of a basement and get on with our lives!

A big thank you to all of you on this forum that have helped me with this over the last few years, and good luck to all of you still on your "visa journey"!

I had exactly the same thing happen to me. I contacted my congressmans office, who then found out that my case had been denied because we had failed to appear for an interview (thats what the returned notice was about). I made an infopass appt. and brought with me a letter from the postmaster at the post office stating that they had returned my mail in error, and I had to file a motion to reopen my case. Luckily they waived the fee because it clearly wasn't my fault. Unfortunately there is nothing to really prove that you have called the information line - I called MANY times to try and get the letter resent, as well as sending letters to the MSC. I would recommend contacting your congressmans office as well as the infopass appointment.

Good luck - I know how frustrating this can be.

Your husband should have received a packet from the embassy when he received his K-1. That was his medical exam results. As long as he submitted this package when he entered the US, then the medical exam should be with your filed AOS application. To the best of my knowledge, K-1s do not need another medical exam as long as the AOS application is filed within a year of the overseas medical.

Hi all,

Well after nearly 2 years, a returned interview notice, a denial, a motion to reopen, emergency AP and a denied EAD renewal, my AOS interview is tomorrow in Detroit at 2pm. I'm pretty sure I have everything I possibly could have regarding evidence, though because they screwed up my EAD renewal I haven't been able to work, and my wife is a full-time student, so we still live with my in-laws, so no lease/bills/medical insurance etc.

Here's what I've gathered together to bring tomorrow:

- interview letter

- Both our passports, birth certificates, drivers licences, Social security cards

- Original & certified copy of marriage certificate

- Original AOS receipt

- Original letter from Detroit approving the motion to reopen

- Sealed envolope containing vaccination supplement

- New notorized I-864's from my wife and co-sponsor

For my wife's:

- Copy of 2005 joint tax return and wife's W-2

For my co-sponsor's:

- recent paystub and business card (could not get letter of employment because he works on the road and rarely visits his office)

- 2004 tax transcript (which shows my wife as a dependant - hence no 2004 taxes from her)

- W-2's for 2005 (taxes not yet filed)

- I-864A for co-sponsor's wife

- Paystub and W-2 for co-sponsor's wife

- Our 2005 joint state and federal tax return and W-2's

- Some photographs of our wedding, vacation, and around the house

- a CD of all our digital pictures that were not printed (you never know...)

- Joint bank account statements

- Joint car insurance policy

- Statements from my wife's parents and grandparents regarding address on our bank statements (we live with her parents but stay with her grandparents on the days she attends classes at university, and we were planning on getting our own place nearby, so we used her grandparents address for our bank account and car insurance, but because my EAD got screwed up we had to put that plan on hold - the bank statements still have both our names on it though)

- Statements from 2 family friends saying we're legit.

- Junk mail showing our names seperatly but at the same address

- A letter to me from my wife's university (RE: unpaid parking ticket)

- Many, many wedding, anniversary, christmas cards addresses to both of us

- Paystubs from when I was employed

I have all of this, plus photocopies of everything, as well as all my EAD and AP stuff and copies of my K-1 and AOS applications (I know I won't need it, but peace of mind is bliss)

I'm hoping everything listed above is all I will need - if anyone can see anything that I'm missing, please let me know!

Thank you!!!!

The best thing to do, IMO, would be to take your 2005 taxes, and write a letter explaining that you did not file taxes before this because you were your mother's dependant. That will cover you if they do ask for 3 years.

Yes, Varicella is the chicken pox vaccination. They do not give it in the UK, but it is required for the vaccination supplement in the US. If you have chicken pox as a kid, the civil surgeon may say that you don't need it, or they can test your blood to check.

Congratulations! I have my interview in Detroit on the 23rd - I hope ours is as straightforward as yours!

Will both your names be on the lease/morgage of your new place? If so, I wouldn't see any reason why it would cause a problem - I don't think its that uncommon for a spouse to move before the rest of the family in order to start a new job.

I also don't think it would be a big issue if he didn't change his address for the affidavit until you both move out of your old place if he still receives mail there. You could argue that his current living arrangement is only temporary, therefor there would be no need to register the change of address.