DreAndKi

I moved in 2019 from Calgary to Indianapolis. BY FAR the cheapest way (even over renting a Uhaul and driving ourselves) was to use U-pack. There are two options: have a cube delivered to you and then you pack it and they pick it up and drop it off to your new address, or load and unload the truck yourself at their location. I'm pretty sure the one for Calgary was by Strathmore but I'm not 100% sure. It cost me $1,500 and arrived in like 10 days or something. I took all of my furniture, kitchen stuff, clothes, etc. Would seriously recommend getting an online quote (and using if the price is low still) for U-Pack!! 

2 minutes ago, HRQX said:

"The extension begins on the date the EAD expires and continues for up to 180 days, unless USCIS denies the renewal application." https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-resources/handbook-for-employers-m-274/handbook-for-employers-m-274/40-completing-section-2-of-form-i-9/44-automatic-extensions-of-employment-authorization-documents-eads-in-certain-circumstances

180 days is better than the 120 I had thought! Thank you. 

This is probably a unique situation, but I am a little worried. My original AOS interview was scheduled for August 6th, 2020, but our son decided he wanted to be born early on August 5th so we obviously had to reschedule. New interview was on January 25, 2021. My green card was not approved immediately because I did not complete a new medical, though the instructions say that if you file for your adjustment within one year you don't need an updated medical. I printed those instructions to show the woman who interviewed me and she agreed but said that she just needs her supervisor's approval to approve my case without a new medical. In fact, she asked us maybe 3 questions total because she said that our case was so strong and clearly not fraudulent. 

Anyway, at this point I was interviewing for some jobs but hadn't had an offer yet. My EAD expires February 19, 2021 so at the interview I asked what I should do in the meantime if I do get a job and she said to wait until the expiration is closer to refile for an EAD because a decision shouldn't take too long. She said she'll keep the urgency in mind and do her best to expedite my case so I don't have to worry about renewal. Of course after the interview I immediately get an offer for the job I wanted and ended up starting February 1st. I kept waiting and waiting and finally last week I applied for a renewal for my EAD because I'm scared of it expiring. Not to mention that my license also expires when my EAD expires. My case status online hasn't even changed from "interview was scheduled," I haven't received an approval for my green card or an RFE for the medical. Nothing. 

I'm hoping that they receive my EAD renewal today or tomorrow so that it is automatically extended another 120 days but I'm really nervous. Has this happened to anyone else? 

Hello! I was scheduled for my AOS interview at the Indianapolis office on August 6, 2020. Ended up going into labor on the 4th and had my son on the 5th so obviously had to reschedule! Our request was approved and a week later I received a letter saying to expect a letter with a new date in 45-60 days. It’s been 67 days and I still have received anything and my case status hasn’t changed online since the first interview was scheduled. I sent an email to the address on the letter and it said to expect a reply by October 30th. Last time my interview was less than 3 weeks after I received the letter, so I’m worried that the new date was lost in the mail and my interview will pass before I receive an email back. 
 

Has anyone else had to reschedule an interview? Did your case status change online when they scheduled the new one? I know COVID might be pushing everything back so the 45-60 day wait could be delayed but I’m nervous!!  

1 hour ago, Z&D said:

Oh congratulations!!! how did it go? Congratulations to all of you on the pregnancies!!!
 

Hope everyone is doing well - my employment authorization came in January and biometrics were done late last year but I just got the notice for the AOS interview to be held in September! Really excited for that! Hope it goes well!

Thank you! My interview was scheduled for August 6th and my son ended up being born August 5th so I had to call USCIS and request for my interview to be rescheduled haha. Currently waiting for a letter with a new interview date  

Good luck at your interview!! 

On 7/25/2020 at 8:19 PM, MotherofDragons said:

I would suggest your lease/mortgage with both your names on it, bank statements showing co-mingling of finances, phone bill with both names on it, car insurance with both names, wills/poa if you have them and life insurance with each other as beneficiaries. Really as many things that have both your names on it as possible and showing your joint finances. 

Awesome - thank you! 

On 7/24/2020 at 8:19 PM, Buster & Hitch said:

Hey!! Congrats on the pregnancy!! We just had our baby 8 days ago!! My case status for the Jacksonville office has been showing ready to be scheduled for an interview since February 7th. I got my EAD and AP about a week before everything shut down so it was perfect timing. I had been freaking out about the interview overlapping with labour so the delay on our case has been very welcome. It's nice to see things moving again. I was hoping we'd be one of those unicorns that was approved with a waived interview. 

Oh my gosh, congratulations on your baby!! That's so exciting! There might still be a chance that they'll change your status to approved without the interview! But if not, I hope it's scheduled soon  

On 7/24/2020 at 8:50 PM, KenandBina said:

Congrats to both of you. We had our interview the last day before everything shut down so we are really lucky. Got my Green Card in my hands end of April and luckily started a great job in June (work from home). 
good luck everyone

Thank you!! Congrats on the green card, that's awesome  

I know it's been a while, but I wanted to see where everyone is in their immigration journey now! We have our AOS interview on August 6th and I will be a few days shy of 38 weeks pregnant so I'm just hoping I can make it that long, haha. I only received my interview notice 3 weeks before the scheduled interview, so I'm currently collecting all of the documents and info needed. I'm not super stressed out but still a bit anxious! I assumed things would have been drastically delayed due to COVID and laying off 73% of USCIS, but I guess we were lucky. 

Has anyone had their interview yet? If so, where was it and how did it go?? 

Hello! I am adjusting my status from K1 to permanent resident, and recently just got my interview letter. I received the letter 3 weeks before my interview is scheduled (August 6, 2020) so I'm trying to get everything together ASAP. So far I plan on bringing the following: 

1. Pictures - wedding, baby shower, family, before marriage, after marriage, etc. 
2. Husband's 2019 tax return and W2s
3. Copy of bills
4. Credit card statements showing both of our names 
5. Copy of address change form 
6. K1 application copies 
7. Adjustment of status application copies 
8. Both of our passports and birth certificates
9. Copy of EAD and Advanced Parole approval letters as well as card 

I am also going to be just shy of 38 weeks pregnant at the time of our interview, so I'm hoping he's not born before then, haha. If he is, I know a birth certificate is required but we likely won't receive one until about 30 days after his birth, so I plan on bringing the confirmation of birth provided by the hospital. 

Is there anything else I should be bringing? I'm sure interviews might be slightly different due to COVID, but any tips about what to expect would be greatly appreciated! Thank you  

3 hours ago, Buster & Hitch said:

You can find info here you just have to scroll through to find your local office since timelines vary depending on where it's being processed  https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/aosstats.php 

 

You can also go on USCIS to get green card timelines but that's a national average and pretty broad. 

 

I filed my AOS package on December 4, got my NOA1 for all three applications on December 11, and just went in for my biometrics at the Jacksonville office today! VJ is predicting I'll get my work authorization by April 25 which is what I am most anxious for!! In personal news I found out I'm pregnant the morning of our wedding 😊 We are so excited, and I am pretty sure I'll be showing up to the next interview with a newborn! 

Congratulations!! We also found out that we're expecting almost 3 months after we got married and will be showing up to our interview with a newborn too, I'd assume  So exciting! 

I filed my AOS on November 17th and received my biometrics appointment letter yesterday for a January 10th appointment in Indianapolis. Our package was forwarded to the National Benefits Center from Chicago, which happens to be the slowest location. I'm not sure if all AOS from K1 go to this location, but I'm hoping it gets forwarded elsewhere or they speed things along soon. 

27 minutes ago, KenandBina said:

Thank you!!!  Also what did you include for the i175 and i131? Did you include additional passport pictures and copies of your passport bio / visa page and marriage certificate? Or is one copy enough?

I included all of the same stuff as mentioned above, plus my husbands W2s.
 

I used three different folders to organize my forms - adjustment of status, advance parole, and work permit, each with a cover letter, two passport photos, bio page of passport, and copy of visa. On the cover letters for advance parole and work permit I specified that I am filing them concurrently with my adjustment of status, as I’m not sure that it’s the same person who reviews each application and I don’t want them to question whether or not I have paid the fee already. 

For advance parole I also included a letter from my dad’s hematologist/oncologist, as well as a personal letter I wrote, as I don’t want there to be any delay. I didn’t include my marriage certificate for anything but the adjustment. 

2 minutes ago, KenandBina said:

Hey everyone! Just went through port of entry at pearson airport! Woo hoo

 

but they kept all the documents that were in the package. Were they supposed too? 

They kept mine too.

I'm not sure if this applies to you or anyone else, but I forgot to ask for a copy of the I-94 at my POE. It can easily be retrieved and printed online at https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home. All you need to input is your personal info and passport info. 

I can post a little update too! 

My POE was the Calgary International Airport on September 22nd. My husband (then fiance) had flown in from Indianapolis on the 19th, so he was with me throughout the process. We went through security and then to customs, where the customs agent took my sealed envelop and passport and sent us to a back area of the airport. There were about five or six other people in the waiting room when we got there, but we somehow managed to be the first to leave! We waited for about 30 minutes (weren't allowed to use our phones but they had football playing on TV so that helped pass the time), and then I was called to one of the desks. The very friendly woman at the desk told me to leave my stuff with my husband, as she just needed to verify my new American address. I wrote it on a piece of paper and she told me to sit back down. I could see her from my seat, so I then watched her open the packet, type in the information (took her all of 2 or 3 minutes) and then she called me back up to the desk. She told me to bring my things as I just had to retrieve my passport from her and then we could head back into the airport to catch our flight. I was not formally interviewed or asked anything besides my new address. There were flight attendants from each airline who came in periodically to see if anyone was going to miss their flight.

We stayed in Indiana for one day and then flew to Miami and eloped at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens on September 26th - beautiful place, would definitely recommend! I had applied for my SSN (so I could open a bank account, be on my husbands health insurance, etc.) using my maiden name the day after we arrived. I had done some research and learned that applying using your maiden name before marriage is the best way to ensure your SSN is approved (names and marital status match your I-94 at this point) prior to completing the entire permanent residency process. My SSN has a stamp on it saying I am not eligible to work without proper authorization. 

We already received our marriage certificate and my SSN in the mail, so I've opened a bank account, been added to my husband's healthcare plan, and applied for life insurance without any issue. I am currently getting all of my paperwork together and plan on adjusting my status using my married name so that my green card reflects the name change. I'll take our marriage certificate to the Social Security office sometime in the near future to have my name changed on that as well. 

Good luck everyone  

1 minute ago, KenandBina said:

I appreciate the long answer, and so true very little online. I am only shipping 5-10 Medium boxes, I called the same company you used and they won’t ship a load that small. So going to have to look into ups or fedex. I really don’t have a whole lot to ship, just my personal items, I’m leaving all my furniture and things like that. My parents are going to keep my boxes until I ship them. 

ohhh, right! U-pack does 5 feet minimum. If it's just clothes and small stuff like that and you put that you used them for personal use for over 1 year in Canada before importing them, then you might not have to pay any duty, or at least not very much. There are lots of duty calculators online!

11 minutes ago, KenandBina said:

Does anyone know anything about how you ship your stuff at a later date/ how long you have to ship things before you have to pay duty? 

I shipped my things through U-pack. It was significantly less expensive, as you pack the space yourself. They required a copy of my visa, driver's license, and my credit card to pre-authorize the payment but I wasn't charged until after the shipment left for the US. I moved from Calgary to Indianapolis. 

I packed the truck at the U-pack facility - they will also do door to door, but it was like $500.00 CAD more, and I didn't live far from the loading facility in Calgary, nor do we live far from the facility in Indiana, so I opted for the facility option. I packed on September 19th and moved September 22nd. U-pack required a copy of my US visa, bio page of my Canadian passport, driver's license, and pre-authorized my credit card, but I wasn't charged until a few days after my shipment departed Calgary. I also had to fill out a form for unaccompanied goods entering the US. It was two pages and I had to itemize everything I was shipping along with a dollar amount and number the boxes. I used 5x8x9 feet of space in the truck, which cost me just over $2,000.00 CAD. I was also charged about $200.00 in duty, which was processed on my card the day after the shipment crossed the border, although I did not request the documentation outlining which items I was charged for. Not bad considering I shipped a ton of furniture and household items. 

U-pack lets you track the shipment, which was very convenient. The woman at the facility told me that they wouldn't send it until my I-94 was processed at my point of entry, but they ended up sending it out the day after I packed. I assume this is because I provided a copy of my visa, which was proof enough that I was entering the US and not shipping the goods for use by another person. You receive an estimated delivery date but can't pay for guaranteed delivery just because the shipment crosses a border and they can't guarantee it won't be held up. I was quoted 6-8 business days and it took the full 8. The shipment crossed the border the same day it departed Calgary and then sat in Utah for the remainder of the weekend, made one or two more stops that I can't recall exactly in between Utah and Chicago, and then came to Indiana after Chicago. Customer service was really great, dates to load and unload were flexible, and the people at the facility helped me fill out the paperwork correctly. 

If you want to ship things after you move, I'm sure you can find a company that will store your items until you're ready to move, or you might be able to set everything up with the company and then have someone else drop your stuff off on your behalf when you're ready. 

Sorry for the super long response, but I didn't find much information about shipping things online either, so I figured I'd be thorough in my response! 

33 minutes ago, donjamie said:

So my interview isn't until the 30th but I'm on this constant angst about the organization of my papers and making sure I've got everything.

Would someone be kind enough to guide me and tell how you organized yours??

Also, I'm a Canadian citizen but I was born in Philippines (got here when I was about 8-9 years old), do I still need to bring original and copies of my birth certificate, record of landing, etc.

or will my passport suffice?

They ask for your long form birth certificate at your interview. Yours isn’t Canadian so I would bring the original, a photocopy, a certified translation (if it’s not in English), and your immigration documentation. You will definitely need the birth certificate, so it won’t hurt to bring all of your records just in case they ask!

It would be terrible to get this far and go into administrative processing pending your Canadian immigration documents! 

12 minutes ago, Kimmyk1visa said:

OMG! I thought they said I was approved 😪 why am I under administrative processing?! Says it’ll take weeks huhu 💔💔💔

Everyone goes into AP for a day or two before they mail you your passport back :) I think it’s just because they’re physically working on your visa so it shows AP. If they said you’re approved at the interview then you are! 

36 minutes ago, Kimmyk1visa said:

OMG !!!!!! Congratulations!! So fast 🌈🌈🌈❤️ Hoping for the same thing for the rest of us! 😎😎

Thanks so much!! I hope that all of your interviews go well too!! 

3 minutes ago, KenandBina said:

Oh and meant to ask... where do you live? I’m in Mississauga, just guessing how long it will take  

I live in Calgary

Just wanted to post a little update and say that my passport was ready for pickup at 9:20 this morning - quicker than the original expected date! I will be moving next weekend, so I'm very relieved that it came much quicker than 2 weeks  

I also had my interview on the 11th at 7:30AM and was so nervous I felt nauseous the entire time, haha. I was asked for about 1/8th of the documentation I had brought, but I figure it was still good that I brought extra in case I was asked for it. My interview was about 3-4 minutes long, in which I was asked: 

1. How long have you and your fiance known each other and how frequently have you seen each other in the last year (we worked together for 4 of the 5 years he was in Canada, and I have seen him 9 times in the last year since he's moved back to Indiana, so she did not ask me much about our relationship beyond these two questions) 

2. Have you ever been arrested anywhere in the world?

3. Have you ever had trouble crossing the border? 

4. Do you have a date for your wedding? 

At the end she told me that my case was one of the simplest and strongest cases she has come across so she has no problem approving my visa. She wished me well and congratulated me and off I went! This morning I received an email from Canada Post saying that my passport had been collected and expected delivery date is Tuesday, September 17th. I live in Calgary, but I am sure it would be a similar shipping time frame most places in Canada. 

54 minutes ago, Kimmyk1visa said:

PS. Medical office won’t change it. Said its okay. I dont trust them LOl omg im so stressed out

I hear ya. My medical has an extra number in the MTL case # and they used a pen and just crossed out the extra 1 and it's making me nervous. I really hope they also crossed it out in the sealed packet... 

I think we're all panicking too much over the interview, though. A middle name probably won't cause them to deny your whole case, as the passport photos and first and last name match! The K1 visa isn't as legally binding as the AOS so I'm sure we will all be okay  

1 minute ago, KenandBina said:

Anyone know what time the doors at the embassy open. I know I read it somewhere but can’t remember. 

I think I remember people saying that they opened around 7:30 for the first set of interviews. It's first come first served per interview time though.

3 hours ago, LOve17 said:

I’m pretty sure someone has asked this before but I need to ask again since my Fiance and I forgot to sign our forms while he was here this long weekend. Is it ok if the forms are signed and sent to me to print or do they have to be in wet ink? Thanks!  

i think you need wet ink signatures for the affidavit of support and the letter of intent to marry.