kelzm

I think that this might be highly dependant on the IO.

I applied under the 3 year rule. My I-130 application and my RoC were all very simple, I never had any RFE's or any issues with the information I submitted. I do not believe there is anything 'suspicious' about my case. I come from an English speaking country (New Zealand), am educated and employed, I can't see any reason why my marriage would appear doubtful.

For naturalization I applied 88 days prior to my 3rd year as per the 90 day window rule. I submitted tax transcripts, wedding certificate and proof that I was on car insurance and medical insurance with my husband. The IO sent an RFE asking for more information such as joint utility bills, proof of joint ownership etc. I went to an infopass appointment and was told by the infopass officer that additional proof other than tax transcripts was pretty standard for someone applying under the 3 year rule and it was necesary to prove ongoing marital union. So, I think that there is always a chance you will get asked for more than just the transcripts (even though the USCIS form says OR, not AND on the types of info they want). However, I've read of people that have not been asked and I highly suspect it's dependant on the officer that you happen to get for your interview.

Well, you can apply early, like I did, but you'll be put under more scrutiny. If you're thinking about applying after 3 years make sure that you have things like joint utility bills or name on the renal/mortgage. Also make sure that you can show a bill for each year you are here. My name isn't on any of the bills and simply getting my name put on one wouldn't be enough, I had to show the three years worth.

If you're thinking of going for citizenship I highly recommend waiting till 5 years is up, rather than using the 3 year marriage rule. If it wasn't for my son I wouldn't have done this as early as I have.

An update from me:

Following the advice given here I started putting together a cover letter with information to send back to USCIS.

In my cover letter I gave a brief statement about myself and my husband then listed what I had included:

- Copy of car insurance showing me as additional driver

- Copy of husbands 401k beneficiary page listing me as the primary beneficiary

- Copy of husbands Roth IRA beneficiary page listing me as primary beneficiary

- W-2's for 08, 09, 10

I listed what wasn't include with a statement as to why: ie 2011 tax year still in progress, husband had bought home and established bills prior to marriage. As JustBob said I listed facts and did not apologise for not having these items.

My husband decided that this wasn't enough however and called USCIS to ask what else could be provided if we didn't have the info that was asked for. They told him that we should go for an infopass appt and get more information. We did that yesterday morning with the package I was going to mail in hand. It was a very short appt but very informative.

The officer asked why I was there and if I was married to a US citizen, my husband was beside me and said yes I was, that he was a citizen. The officer said it was a good thing he had come with me. He then asked to see the RFE letter I had, when I presented it to him he sighed and face palmed. His first words were - 2011 taxes? You can't provide those, even he can't provide that. That's just.. not appropriate. My husband commented that is why we are confused, since we can't possibly supply this. Officer's words were ' yes well, if you knew him you'd understand he's probably confused too'.

What the officer did tell me is that if I apply under the 3 year rule they will ask for proof of marital union and they want to see more than just taxes. They want to see joint utility bills etc. My husband explained that we did not have these. The officer agreed that these items are not things that married couples are required to have but that under the 3 year rule they'll ask for this stuff. He asked what we did have, at that point I gave him my letter and he went through it. He said that he thought we should be fine with the 401k, IRA and the car insurance. He suggested that I send in the tax information for the 08, 09, 10 years even though I already had, just to be safe.

He seemed to be pretty understanding of why we did not have some of these things and said we should have no issues, it'll just take a bit more time. Here's hoping that he's correct and no further problems are found with our application.

Well, unfortunately all that crossing my fingers did not help.

Form N14 arrived today in the mail. It seems to be a form letter that states additional information is needed before my application can be acted upon.

The letter requests:

a) Photocopies of financial docuents proving joint accounts to include joint income tax returns for the year 2011 (along with photocopies of the W-2 forms) and joint bank account statements for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

b) Evidence showing joint ownership or rental agreements showing joint owenership/rental of homes, automobiles and any other jointly owned or rented property.

c) Phtocopiesof jointly paid utilities from 2008 to present

d) Photocopies of wills and trusts in which either or both spouses are beneficiary

Now this is a major problem for me. Obviously he has our three years of tax transcripts from 2008, 2009, 2010 which I already sent in and he is not asking for those. He is asking for 2011. The 2011 tax year is not over. We have not filed tax returns, we do not have W-2's from our jobs. I have no possible way to give him the 2011 information.

We have no evidence of joint ownership of cars or our house. My husband bought the house before I moved here, there was no point in adding me to the mortgage, as soon as I married him I inherited half of the debt anyway My husband bought my car for me before I moved over because there was a sale and I wanted a vehicle available as soon as I was here. We never bothered to put my name on the vehicle just like we never bothered to put my name on any of the bills. We don't have a joint bank account, he pays the bills, I buy food, and we just never saw a reason to have a shared account.

So that's my status. My husband called USCIS tonight to ask about what else we could submit, as expected they did not have much information and just suggested we schedule an infopass. I'm considering just sending a letter in reply stating the above. My husband wants to go in for an infopass appointment next week as soon as possible.

Yes, hopefully down the track this info will be helpful for someone else.

I debated filing early but as my son turns 18 in December I decided that I'd take the risk and send it in. I did try and calculate it close enough based on the times I'd seen in processing that I'd get my interview close to, but after my anniversary date. Turns out San Jose was just a bit too speedy for my reckoning. Ah well. Live and learn.

I'll be waiting to see what other evidence they're asking for as I submitted what was asked for (tax transcripts) although I did include the extra pieces of info with insurance documents, flight itinerary and the pieces of mail. I did this primarily after reading threads here where people were asked to provide multitudes of info. Hopefully others will see this post and send in just the required evidence and not have to risk an IO who's obviously having a bad day/life taking offense.

I'm hoping for the hot air result and will post when I find out any more.

Especially frustrating as I had to do this all a year ago when I got my 10 year green card. Oh well. I can only do so much I guess, the rest is just waiting and hoping.

Thanks Shakil,

You're right the best thing to do is stay calm and patient. My husband said the same thing when I spoke to him but I didn't want to listen at the time and instead went in to the bathroom at work to throw a little tantrum!

I'm feeling a lot calmer now and all I can do is cross my fingers and hope that I'll be lucky and get that approval just like the other RFE people you mentioned did!

I'm just so keen to get this process behind me!

I'm a little frustrated so I thought I'd post here and share my citizenship journey with everyone.

I married my husband 4 years ago and moved here 3 years ago today. I came in on an I-130 as a conditional permanent resident and adjusted status 2 years later. All of those processes were simple and smooth.

I filed for the N400 88 days before my 3 year residency requirement (due to marriage) was up. The process after this was quick and smooth and I had my interview last week, a week before my 3 year anniversary.

The interviewing officer was not very polite, I expected this could happen and made sure to remain as polite and neutral towards him as possible. My interview was full of heavy sighs and head shakes. Before I sat down he told me he was delayed interviewing me as the people he had first were 'problems'. He proceeded to give me my oath to tell the truth then went through all the questions. His voice was monotone and he spoke very quickly, all I can say is that I am glad that English is my first language.

I passed the civics test, english reading and writing and signed my photo's. He then flipped through my files looking at the evidence in there. He went through the 3 years of tax transcripts I'd submitted, and then looked at the other miscellaenous items I'd sent in, just in case. These included copies of car insurance with both our names, copies of our health insurance to show that I was insured via my husbands work, letters addressed to us both at our place of residence and copies of flight itineraries and boarding passes for trips taken. He shook his head and muttered about not being able to use this stuff. Which I assume was the itineraries etc. I had other items in my bag including husbands passport and birth certificate, just in case, information for my son who is in New Zealand finishing high school etc. My husband had already got the house and mortgage before I moved over my name is not on the mortgage or on any of the bills (water, phone etc)

He closed my file and told me that he did not have time to review the evidence then or look at anything else I had with me. That regardless I was not eligible to be approved till next week at which point he'd look through my file an look at my evidence. He told me that he likely would not approve my case and would need more proof of marriage but he could not discuss it or tell me what, just to wait for his letter.

Today when I checked my case status there is an RFE there. I guess that now I have to wait to see what it is they require of me and hope that I can meet what they need.

So very frustrated.

It costs about $660 if I recall.

I just got a case status update today of a request for evidence. I'm very frustrated right now. The rest of this process has been so simple.

And then if you decide to become a citizen - guess what? You have to get those biometrics done again!

I applied for mine 90 days before my 3 year anniversary of being a permanent resident. Had to pay another fistful of dollars, get biometrics done again, submit proof of marriage AGAIN. I had my citizenship interview last week. I passed my civics test and english test no problem. The problems were that my interview was a week before my 3 years were up so he couldn't make a decision then. But the icing on the cake was that after flipping through my file and muttering things like 'Can't use that', 'Nope', 'Sigh', he told me that he did not have time to review my proof of marriage and he very likely would not approve my application and would ask for more evidence. He didn't know what he would need so I'd have to wait for a letter, which he wouldn't get around to till the end of this week, if he had time.

Brilliant.

You're welcome Jess!

For the consent I think that a signed statement from him should be sufficient, you may need to get a JP to sign/witness it to make it all official. I did enquire when I was going for my visa a few years back, my situation was very complicated at the time and my son and I decided he'd stay to finish high school, now he's old enough that I didn't need to get consent from his father (who I have no clue how to find). I suggest that you email the consulate and check with them what kind of proof they need. They're really helpful and I'm sure will get back to you with something quickly.

Hi Jess, yes there are! I posted in the other thread (Kiwis and spouses etc) with all the details including a link to the form with the list of doctors. Good luck!

Hi Jess, welcome to the NZ part of the forums.

Yes you can do your medical in Christchurch, here is the link to the document that the consulate will send to you once they have received your information. http://travel.state.gov/pdf/medical/ACK-MED-ENGL-0002-1001.pdf

There are a couple of options there. Unfortunately you will have to pay for yourself and your daughter. My son has just gone through the process for his visa, the medical cost us a total of $360 once the xrays were factored in. I believe that the price can differ depending on the doctor so you may want to enquire with both options.

You usually have about a month between the consulate receiving your package and the interview. It should be plenty of time to get things back to them. I don't recommend sending anything to them till you know that they have received your package. For my son I tracked the package according to the thread in the NVC forum and once it had been received had the police form sent in and the medical scheduled for a day or two later.

Here is the link to the police certificateform http://travel.state.gov/pdf/pk3_supplements/ACK-PK3-ENGL-0002-0903.pdf the consulate will of course send you this info but you can send it in to them earlier. Make sure that you send it back to the consulate, you cannot apply for this yourself, they must do it. Don't worry too much, they have a pretty streamlined process and you should be fine with everything. If there is anything you are concerned about I suggest that you email the consulate directly, I have several times for both mine and my sons visas and they have been very helpful and prompt in responding. Their email address is AucklandIV@state.gov

Good luck with everything, if you have any more questions let us know and we'll try and answer what we can. Also make sure to check back and let us know how everything goes!

Kelly

I came over on a tourist visa and got married here in the USA. A couple of days after the wedding (once the wedding certificate was ready) we sent in the I-130 application. I went back to NZ and finished the rest of the process there. You should have no problems doing it this way if you choose to marry and return home rather than stay and adjust status.

I hear you Dave, it seems like this process goes on forever. Hope the package gets delivered asap!

how long does the filing take while I'm back in NZ if this is the case?

It depends on what you file, if you do the K1 fiancee visa it's about 6 months or so, if you are going to do the I-130 right now processing times seem to be around 9 months up to a year total. I just did IR2 for my son who is still in NZ, this took 9 months in total and that seems par for the course for any straight forward NZ I-130 applicants.

Hey all,

Long time no chat!

I got my 10 year green card last year, it was all pretty simple, I sent in tax returns, copies of car insurance that we have in both our names, medical insurance and itineraries from a couple of trips we'd taken. No interview, just a biometrics appointment then approval.

My son's IR2 is in process and he has an appt at Auckland consulate in June, I'm a little worried as I can't be there with him, he's 17 so he should be fine, but here's hoping they don't ask him anything tricky! Next month I'm also going to be sending in my citizenship application so by the end of this year I should be all done with this process, forever! Yippee

Hope everyone is doing well.

Congrats Emma!

I'm also in California, hope you find some kiwis close by. I was at work last month when I heard a familiar accent and I had to get up and go and ask the startled lady where she was from. Turns out she was from Auckland (I work in a public library).

Zeddess it took me a year to find a job, and even then I only have a 20 hour a week job, and I pick up extra hours as I can. Admittedly for a large part of that my search was narrow, I was only applying for librarian jobs as that is what I do, but there wasn't much out there. I started applying for a variety of clerical, receptionist etc and didn't have much luck there, a couple of interviews, but no job. For the first year I relied on temp jobs. I was very lucky that my neighbour was the HR person for the local county and got me on the temp list so I got to work as a receptionist, a tax collector and a PA to the city attorney at various times.

It's tough, but don't lose hope, I started to feel that it must be just me but finding a job is tough for everyone. The best thing I can recommend is trying to get some job experience, no matter what. Failing that try volunteering. I volunteered at the local library, and then they gave me some temp work. I think if I hadn't got that US experience under my belt I wouldn't have got the job I have now.

Carebear, I replied in the NZ thread that I thought it took only a couple of weeks for the consulate to process mine. I highly recommend going to the auckland consulate website to get their email address and emailing them. I've found them to be very helpful and quick to reply.

In other news, got the email today to say that my removing conditions has gone through and my new greencard is in production.

Was all very simple, I was waiting for an RFE as I didn't think I'd sent in enough evidence but didnt' get that or even a request for an interview.

I sent in copies of the first pages of our tax returns, copies of travel itineraries for trips we'd taken since I moved here, copies of mail sent to me at our home address, envelopes sent to both of us (cards etc), and that's it. We don't have joint bank accounts, I'm not on any of the bills or mortgage. All in all I'm pretty pleased it went so well.

Hi Carebear,

I can't really recall how long it took, I know that I got the information sheet from them in June and had my interview early July, by which time they'd already got the police cert, so I'd say a couple of weeks. The Auckland Consulate is really good at answering emails and giving you info. If you go to their website there is an email address there, I suggest emailing them directly to ask about timeframe for that.

Email today - card produced on 9/14/2010. Yippee.

So I recently emailed the NZ passport office (thanks for the link Kiwiana!) to ask about my expiring passport. The answer was that as far as they are concerned it's valid up to the date of expiry but that the airline who check me in and the border agents can reject at their discretion. So now my dilemma is... 4 months to go, do I try and do it via post, or take the risk that it'll all go smoothly.