MelOe

@Redro I just looked up World Education Services, sadly it doesn't apply in my case. There is an established procedure for my profession (ECFVG by the AVMA) that has to be completed by any graduates from non AVMA licensed schools. I did complete that procedure, proving my equivalent level of education, and the AVMA submitted a letter of completion to the State Board. This was received, and they have confirmed to me that they have it and understand it means my education is sufficient. They really are just hung up on the wording in their own board rules, which is why I'm so scared that they might just leave me hanging for no reason.

Thank you for your responses!

I wasn't allowed to submit the transcript myself, it had to be submitted directly by my university without me ever touching it. Because I knew that I would be working abroad after graduation, my original transcript on file at the university is actually in English already. My university gave us the choice to issue it in German or English, and I figured English would be easier.

But yes, the certified translations can sometimes work in our favor. Knowing what I know now I should have just gotten a German transcript and gotten it translated by a certified translator for the country in question each time I moved. Would have spared me a lot of headache even while I was in Europe (For example I once had a Spanish licensing authority doubt my transcript was real, because documents from Germany can't possibly be written in English apparently). Not sure it would have helped in this case though, as the licensing agency told me outright they only consider English language documents submitted to them. They might have just ignored a German language transcript sent by my university outright.

No, I haven't heard back from my university yet as I only wrote them Friday after I found out. I'm hoping to get a reply by Monday since time is of the essence, but we will see. I really hope that they will be so kind to support me in this. I'm looking for a quick translation service to use to translate any letter of support my university might seem fit to send me. I'm gonna look up the World Education Services you mentioned to see if they might be an option, thank you for that!

Hi all!

I'm currently in ROC and on expired greencard with 4 year extension letter. I'm a german veterinarian, and have spent the last couple of years going through the ECFVG equivalency examination process to prove that my education is up to par for here, while working as a vet tech in the meantime. I completed the process in December and immediately applied for state licensure to obtain my veterinary license at long last. Now the Georgia State board of Licensing has decided that in spite of meeting all other requirements they can't license me because my german vet school transcripts don't contain the phrases "master degree in veterinary medicine" or doctor of veterinary medicine". They seem to fully understand that if I hadn't graduated from an accepted college I would never have been allowed to go through the ECFVG process established for the very purpose to weed out ineligible candidates, and they also seem to understand that every country has different titles for my profession, but because in their board rules it says a doctor or master degree is necessary they won't budge. I'm now supposed to apply for variance or suspension of the rule and hope for the best in a full board review next month.

I'm interested to know if other immigrants in professions requiring licensure have experienced similar difficulties, and how they were able to solve them. I'm trying to figure out what documents I could submit to hopefully help my cause. I have reached out to my german university in hopes they will write me a letter of support, and I've found lists with the different veterinary titles around the world. I also have documents from previous jobs around Europe in which I'm variably adressed as Dr. or have a DMV behind my name. But I'm not sure if it would be advantageous to overload them with such evidence, since I don't know if they will have the patience to go through them or if I would just make them mad. Any opinions or experiences with US professional licensing boards?

On 4/24/2023 at 9:11 PM, OldUser said:

Let me guess, your case ID begins with IOE?

Yes it does

Hi everyone,

I sent in my I-751 on the 5th, just received the same two letters mentioned by others above (reuse of fingerprints and uscis account access). My received date is the 7th.

Some info to add that might be of use for others still waiting on the actual receipt notice: When I signed up for the online account and entered my online access code I could access all documents generated so far in digital form. That includes the two letters I got today, but also the receipt notice which I haven't received in the mail yet.

Now the waiting begins once again... Good luck everyone!

1 hour ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 

2. Intent to Marry:  A signed letter from each of you that you intend to marry each other within 90 days of your fiance arriving on the K1 visa.

 

Any other affidavits/letters will be useless.

As I understand it, the RFE states that they did submit statements from both partners stating that they intend to marry. Odd that they request more than that, but it looks like they did in this case... Did you guys maybe forget to sign your statements in the original submission, or forget to explicitly mention the 90 days?

Thank you TBone! Indeed, collecting every official looking piece of paper just in case has always been my MO, and I'm certainly not stopping now. I'm not worried that we will fail the next step for lack of evidence, and I don't really suppose that failing us for lack of pregnancy would hold up in court But yours is good advice I will definitely be following.

As for him just verifying my story and randomly hitting on these things that can be construed into something: I've been trying to convince myself of that ever since, but it just doesn't feel right. The questions felt very pointed and he kept coming back to that line of questioning. But of course it doesn't really matter. Whatever it was, I obviously passed muster so I guess my answers were satisfactory. We'll see what happens at the ROC interview...

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Hi guys,

I have been pondering a few questions I got during my AOS interview last year and would like to know if you guys have any suggestions what they were aiming at. I didn't want to post in the AOS thread out of fear of worrying someone who is about to head to their interview and is looking for advice there. I'm sure these questions were very specific to my case and not something other people would get, so I didn't want to cause anyone to freak out. In any case, I got approved so I should just forget about it but I somehow can't.

We had a fairly normal AOS interview judging by what others have posted on VJ, but when it came to my previous work experience and the organizations I am a member of I felt like the officer was fishing for something specific and it got confusing. I have worked in my profession (veterinary medicine) in three different EU countries (Germany, France, Spain) over the past 10+ years, which is easy to do since my degree is recognized throughout the EU, and EU citizens have the right to live and work wherever within the EU without needing a visa or work permit. I'm also member of several professional organizations in my field. During the interview the officer asked me if I had worked in Belgium, which was random but I guessed maybe he had connections there or had visited or something. I told him I had not worked in Belgium and we moved on. But a bit later he circled back, this time asking me if I had never worked in Brussles, to which I again said I had not but was getting a bit worried now. The next question came when he looked over the organizations I had listed and he asked me if I had worked for one of them. I confusedly told him I was member of a committee in a different organization, but I never held an actual job in any of these organizations. There were a few more questions I can't recall now, and then the officer moved on. After the interview when I mulled it over it struck me that the organization he had specifically asked me about is a Europe-wide professional organization and probably involved in some lobbying work to represent our profession, and that several EU governing bodies have their seat in Brussles. So my best guess is that he was trying to figure out if I had done any lobbying work? I guess what I just can't get over is this: If I indeed had had a job lobbying the European Parliament at the behest of a veterinary association, why would that have been of concern in my AOS interview in the US? Could they have rejected me for having had a past job in lobbying? Or maybe someone has a different idea what these questions may have been aimed at?

Another thing that just kind of rubbed me the wrong way happened at the end of the interview. He told me the evidence we had brought with us was sufficient for the conditional greencard, but for ROC we would need to show a lot more. I half jokingly replied that we had not planned on buying another house and were hoping the cars we had purchased would last us a few years at least, so what in the world kind of "a lot more" evidence could possibly be expected? To my shock the reply was something to the effect of not to worry, if I was pregnant by the time the ROC interview came around we shouldn't have any problems. I don't even remember how I responded to that one, but I truly find it shocking that an immigration official suggested I have a baby to bolster my immigration case. Is this something that has happened to others here?

Sorry for the long winded post. Just some things I have been quietly mulling over for a while, and I would love to get some input!

Since your husband is a US Citizen he should be able to file for a CR-1 visa for you.

I went to the SSA a day or two after my arrival, before I ever got married. After getting married I filed for AOS and did not request a SSN with that filing since I had already requested one at the SSA weeks earlier. It worked out fine for me, got the SSN much earlier than the work permit (but of course couldn't do anything with it until I got the work permit)

So as I understand it: yes to question 1, no to question 2, but I have no idea about question 3 as I requested my SSN before marriage, not after. No idea if that would have made a difference, I hope someone more knowledgeable can answer that.

Good luck!

In my case its a few years ago now, but I had to go to a spanish Embassy in person and present my passport to them in order to get my spanish police certificate stamped and signed by a spanish official. I'm german, but was living in the south of France at the time. I took a few days off work and travelled to Marseille, where Spain has an embassy. I was waiting when the doors opened in the morning, and could just walk in and state what I needed if I remember right. I believe I had the police report already and only needed the apostille put on it and get it signed, but I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.

I remember the french police report being really easy though, not sure why that is difficult in your case as well. I think I filled out an online request form and got it in the mail within a week or so.

Good luck!!!

Wohoo, my status just changed to "Case was Approved"! I guess I won't need to file for extension of my EAD after all :D I hope you guys get the same news soon as well, I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed for you @Zaraliaya@DiazEdgecombe9194

11 hours ago, Zaraliaya said:

I had mine in Raleigh on May 7th, it's almost 2 months and nothing.

I sent in a service request, and they just said to wait 90more days.

Our interview went well, and the officer said a few weeks -- guess he's bad at estimates?

Oh no, I guess this step too just takes a much longer time than it is supposed to then... Fingers crossed that you hear something soon!

Thank you for your advice, guys! I guess I'll start filling out paperwork to file for extension of my EAD then, just to be on the safe side (and possibly hasten my approval by way of murphy's law ;))

Hi all,

we had our AOS interview from my K1 visa two weeks ago, and it went pretty well. At the end the officer told me he would just have to verify that my medical was less than one year old at the time of filing (which I know it was) and then he would approve me.

Since that interview my status on the USCIS website has been sitting at "Interview was completed and my case must be reviewed". At first I thought it would change to approved as soon as the officer verified the date of my medical. After a few days I figured maybe there is no in between status from this one until card was issued, which it would surely change to within a few days. Now that almost two weeks have passed I'm starting to worry if something went wrong. Am I just overreacting? Is this the normal status before being issed a GC, and how long does it usually take to get a GC these days? My employment authorization document will expire in August, so if this status means that they really are doing some further review of my case I think I need to file for an extension soon so I don't have to quit my job. It never ends lol

I would appreciate you guys' experience with this status, is it routine or am I in some kind of post interview review process? Any idea at what point I can expect to hear something?

Thank you for your advice!

19 hours ago, Pjomo said:

Atlanta is so slow. PD 02/12/2020. No interview, No nothing. Case is received for over 430 days. Ready to be scheduled for over 350days.. Its frustrating 

Hey there, I'm in the same boat and feel your pain! I saw that Atlanta's average processing time is stated as up to three years or something ridiculous like that. At least once we finally get our interview we might go straight to a greencard without conditions. I'll take that as a positive... In the meantime time to start worrying about renewing my work permit lol

Ich musste in Deutschland schon zweimal nach jahrelangem Auslandsaufenthalt erneut in die Krankenkasse eintreten während ich nirgendwo angestellt war. Das geht durchaus, wie ja schon erwähnt gilt natürlich in Deutschland Versicherungspflicht und daher muss es möglich sein in eine Krankenkasse einzutreten. Dabei gilt soweit mir das erklärt wurde dass man bei der Krankenkasse wieder aufgenommen werden muss in der man zuletzt vor dem Wegzug war. Die können sich dabei schon mal etwas quer stellen wenn man zb als Arbeitsloser oder Student mit Mindestbeitrag versichert war bevor man wegzog reissen die sich halt nicht gerade darum einen zurück zu bekommen. Aber als ich deshalb mal von meiner Krankenkasse weggeschickt wurde hab ich auf Anraten eines Bekannten einen "Wiederspruchsfähigen Bescheid" über die Ablehnung verlangt, und Wunder über Wunder auf einmal brauchte ich dann doch nicht gehen sondern wurde gleich anstandslos wieder aufgenommen. Ob das nur für deutsche Staatsangehörige gilt oder auch für Ausländer mit Wohnsitz in Deutschland weiss ich allerdings nicht.

Was die Krankenkassenbeiträge angeht: Ja, wenn kein Arbeitgeber die bezahlt, dann bezahlt man die selber. Als nicht erwerbstätiger Versicherter (Student, arbeitssuchend etc) zahlt man den Mindestsatz, ich glaube das waren letztes Jahr bei mir so um die 150 Euro pro Monat.

Yes, but only after your biometrics have been completed

If your french police record is clear you don't need to submit anything else. I imagine if your police record brings up any court cases you will then have to obtain the court records for those cases in addition.

Hi Vero,

das ist eine sehr gute Frage die uns glaube ich alle schon beschäftigt hat, und deine zwei Wochen aufenthalt in Mexico machen die Versicherungssituation natürlich noch blöder. Ich kann dir nur sagen was ich gemacht habe, ob das auch korrekt war oder ob ich im Schadensfall dann doch auf den Kosten sitzen geblieben wäre weiss ich allerdings nicht, da ich zum Glück während dem Umzug gesund geblieben bin. Aber hier ist meine Strategie vom letzten Jahr, vielleicht weiss jemand anderes ob das so okay war oder ich es falsch gemacht habe:

Als erstes habe ich im Bürgerbüro meiner Stadt nachgefragt ob ich mich nach Auszug ins Ausland per Brief oder Email abmelden kann statt persönlich vorstellig werden zu müssen. Erklärt habe ich das damit dass ich noch keine feste Auslandsadresse habe und mich erst dann in Deutschland abmelden möchte wenn ich im Ausland unter einer neuen Adresse angemeldet bin. Das war bei meiner Stadt kein Problem, mir wurde bestätigt dass eine Email zur Abmeldung genügt.

Dann habe ich beim ADAC eine Auslandskrankenversicherung abgeschlossen für die Übergangszeit plus etwas Puffer falls sich die Hochzeit verschieben sollte. Die Versicherungsbedingungen besagten dass die Versicherung nicht dauerhaft gilt, man kann sie aber abschliessen wenn man für bis zu mehrere Jahre ins Ausland geht. Ich habe denen beim Versicherungsabschluss halt nicht genau erklärt was ich vorhabe sondern nur gesagt dass ich in ein paar Tagen in die USA reise und noch kein Rückkehrdatum habe. Diese Versicherung sollte die Diskrepanz bezahlen falls meine normale Krankenversicherung nicht den vollen Betrag einer Behandlung übernommen hätte (was natürlich sehr warscheinlich ist bei den astronomisch hohen Preisen für medizinische Leistungen hier in den USA!). Meiner regulären Krankenversicherung habe ich erst mal gar nichts gesagt.

Als wir hier in den USA nach der Hochzeit alles geregelt hatten und ich meine Unterlagen für Davids Krankenversicherung erhielt habe ich mich in Deutschland abgemeldet. Dann habe ich meine deutsche Krankenversicherung angeschrieben und um Abmeldung wegen Wegzug ins Ausland gebeten. Die haben eine Kopie meiner Abmeldebescheinigung verlangt und dann ging auch dass ohne Probleme. Die Zusatzversicherung beim ADAC habe ich einfach verfallen lassen da die voll im Voraus bezahlt war.

Wie gesagt, keine Ahnung ob das im Ernstfall so funktioniert hätte aber eine bessere Lösung fiel mir nicht ein. Aber ich bin sehr gespannt welche anderen Strategien hier vielleicht noch geteilt werden!

Alles Gute fürs Interview!

Lg

Melanie

Not from France either, but lived there for years and had to get a police report as well. The document you need to request is called "extrait de casier judiciaire", and you can request it online. I remember that it was the easiest of the different police reports I had to get from various countries.

I believe I got it from here:

https://casier-judiciaire.justice.gouv.fr/mai-web-b3-presentation/pages/accueil.xhtml;jsessionid=3WSC7aJ8D1fz3fzSNGoLoxowI98Z8iPA1wDvFegB.astrea?nocid=true

The next step will be your petition getting forwarded to the nvc for processing. They will then forward it to the embassy in the beneficiarys country of residence for further processing, and the beneficiary will be contacted about what further documents to send in. The interview will be the last step after all necessary documents have been reviewed and deemed sufficient etc.

Here on visajourney you can find an excellent guide that walks you through all the steps of the filing process. I believe you can find it in a pinned post at the top of this thread. Just keep in mind that any processing times given in it are not up to date anymore, every step seems to be taking a very long time at the moment.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zur Greencard @Letspaintcookies!!! 🤩

Ich habe mich in Deutschland ganz offiziell abgemeldet damit nicht irgendwann USCIS auf dumme Gedanken kommt wenn die irgendwie feststellen dass ich in Deutschland gemeldet bin aber angebe in den USA zu leben oder so. Ist warscheinlich paranoid, aber ich wollte es lieber nicht drauf ankommen lassen... Für mein Konto war das kein Problem, der Bank habe ich einfach die neue Postadresse angegeben und das klappt prima. Mag sein dass das aber nur geht weil die selber in den USA aktiv sind (Deutsche Bank). Was Aktiendepots angeht habe ich auch keine Ahnung. Frag doch einfach mal bei deiner Bank unverbindlich an was denn wäre falls du in die USA ziehen würdest.

22 hours ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Frohe Weihnachten 🎄 euch allen und alles Liebe zu euren ersten Hochzeitstagen ( davon duerften ja jetzt auch ein paar anstehen) 😊

Ebenso! Frohe Weihnachten und einen Guten Rutsch euch allen! Und alles Gute zum Hochzeitstag bei denen wo es zutrifft!