KateD

@stag There is also a thread for Feb 2022 filers

Congratulations! Best of luck.

Thanks, @Crazy Cat! Overall, I realize we have been lucky in our journey compared to others. Just need to find a little energy to get through this next step.

Also filing towards the end of the month. Anyone else feeling immigration journey burnout? A couple of questions: 1. The application fee and biometric fee are paid together, correct? 2. For bank accounts, are people using bank statements? If so, should we use older bank statements so that it shows a joint bank account wasn't recently created? Best of luck to everyone!

@nastra30 You were right, the visa appointment went well. We used relatives in Ghana as the guarantors and myself as the witness (without a professional stamp) and they didn't have an issue with it --although we'll breathe a final sigh of relief when we get the new passport in, hopefully, a month's time. Just FYI, the LA office is in Beverly Hills and is run by VFS Global. The man that worked on my husband's passport application said it's rare to have someone from Ghana renew their passport at the LA office and not in NY or DC. Also it cost $250 and not the mentioned $130 plus $30 shipping fee mentioned in the application. Either they haven't updated the application or it costs more because it is run through VFS. Just wanted to mention this incase someone else renews via the LA office.

@milimelo Sorry for the delay, I ended up waiting a little longer to go to CBP then originally plan. The CBP agents were very friendly and willing to help. They looked up my husband's I-94 record but couldn't find anything wrong with it. They did say that they weren't able to see the K-1 documents at the time of entry and that those docs would be with USCIS. So, it appears the next step is to try and get an appointment with the local USCIS field office and see if they will go over the I-485 and K-1 entry docs ? (We never received EAD or AP as the green card came quickly, although we did apply.) Also, the manual verification finally went through and husband's immigration status was verified. It took just short of 2 months. Side note: after 6 weeks of waiting, I called the SAVE number and, after a hour wait time, I got someone on the phone. However, they wouldn't talk to me, they would only talk to the agency (in this case DMV). The only thing they would tell me is that, on average, it is taking longer than 6 weeks for manual (2nd step) verification. Not sure how helpful it is, but I also found this fact sheet from USCIS on how to work toward correcting records in SAVE: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/fact-sheets/SAVERecordsFastFactsforBenefitApplicants.pdf Interestingly, they don't mention the I-485 as a document that can be corrected.

You're probably right that I'm overthinking it. I'm concerned that we will spend all this $ on a trip to LA only to have them tell us we did it wrong and have to start over or worse make a trip to Ghana to get it renewed. But after hearing from you and @nastra30, we're moving ahead and submitting the application. Thanks for sharing your experience. Its good to hear from others that have done it.

@milimelo Thank you for your insights and advice. The article that you referenced above was very enlightening and helped with my understanding of the SAVE system and how it operates. Fingers crossed we can make some headway next week!

@nastra30 It was a lot of redialing. Extension 239 is the only line that answers. I'm going to give it a shot! I'll let you know if it works.

Thanks @nastra30! Much appreciated sharing your insight and experiences. When I called the NY consulate they didn't seem like they would be flexible about the 2 Ghana guarantors. We are applying through the NY office but they have an option to go to LA for the biometrics. That's where we are considering going since it is the closest.

Thanks, @nastra30 for the response. The application specifies "relatives living in the United States" or am I reading it wrong (see below)? It does seem excessive to have to go all the way back to Ghana for passport renewal but it wouldn't be the craziest thing in this process.

@Jeanne Adil Here is a screenshot from the application:

Yes, agreed. It doesn't say anything pre-application. However, once into the application it is a requirement. I called to verify with the NY consulate they said that it is a requirement to renew a passport in the US. I would take a picture but it isn't allowing back into the application at the moment.

Hello, Does anyone have any experience with renewing their Ghana passport from the US? The Ghana NY/Washington DC consulate passport renewal application requires 2 Ghanaian relatives as guarantors. My husband does not 2 Ghanaian relatives living in the US, so it seems like this might be a dead end for him to renew from here. As a potential alternative, my husband spoke to a Ghana Immigration officer and he said that he could provide a new passport for him, but he wasn't sure about shipping it to the US. Does anyone know if passports are allowed to be shipped to the US? Does anyone have experience with shipping to the US from Ghana with FedEx or DHL? I have shipped from the US to Ghana with FedEX with no problems but not the other way. If nothing else, I guess he'll have to travel back to Ghana to get his passport renewed.

@milimelo I spoke to our local deferred inspection office and it did not inspire confidence that we will be able to fix any possible issues. The person I spoke to said that he hadn't heard of the SAVE verification system and, after explaining what it was, he said I should talk to USCIS as they primarily deal with deportations. I also explained that, according to CBP website, deferred inspection offices also correct errors on arrival documents. After much insistence on my part, he reluctantly agreed to let me and my husband come into their office to look over his documents next week. Given the above situation, do you have any advise on what questions I should ask in particular? Or specific documents to review? I just want to be prepared as much as possible since they are already hesitant to see me at all. Thanks for any advise!

Yep, he was a K-1 entry. I have looked over the I-94 and all the information there looks correct--but there's not a lot of info on the I-94. Any ideas on some of the things they could get wrong? I'm going to call my local deferred inspection office tomorrow (not open today). Hopefully, I can make an appointment with them. I called the one in Tucson and spoke to someone there and they have never even heard of SAVE. It's unfortunate that whatever the issue is, it wasn't fixed the first time around when he was getting his SSN. Frustrating to go through it again, but that's how things go around here! Thanks @milimelo for your suggestion. I probably wouldn't have thought of it on my own. I'll update you on how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give them a try and see if I can get somewhere. Maybe an incorrect immigration record is to blame?

Sorry, if my post was confusing. We went into the MVD to get a DL. They use the SAVE system to verify status. His status did not automatically verify and we are waiting for manual verification before NM will give him his DL.

Second time dealing with the SAVE verification system (1st time SSN, now for DL) with my husband (LPR with conditional gc). Both times having to go through the manual (2nd step) verification process. Having to go through the manual process adds a significant amount of wait time. Although USCIS says the manual step takes 3-20 business days, in reality it is much longer than that from my experience (2 months for SSN, its been 5 weeks and still waiting on DL) and what I'm seeing others post. Apart from the long waits, the SSN office didn't even understand the manual verification process which added a lot of confusion and more delays, but that is a different topic. I'm thinking there might be an error in my husband's information in the SAVE system and that is why he keeps having to go through manual verification. However, I would like to see if we can somehow rectify this issue and prevent future manual verifications. How could he find out if there is an error in his info in SAVE? How could he get it corrected? My thinking (1) requesting his file via FOIA through local USCIS office to see if there is a noticeable error that could be attributable to what is in SAVE (2) Requesting an appointment to fix error. Has anyone tried to correct their information in SAVE? If this doesn't work out, when else might we encounter the SAVE system so I can prepare myself? We are contemplating about moving to new state where he would need a new state DL for his employer, not sure if the employer would be willing to wait for 2 months for the DL though, so this issue is impacting potential job opportunities. Thanks for any insights.

First of all, I sympathize with you. Been there, it is so painful. Husband is also from Ghana and we asked for an expedite for the same reason and were denied. We even got a letter from my doctor stating the importance of the expedite. On a different note, IVF is also very expensive, even in Ghana. People here are telling you to have the IVF done in Ghana but you need to look at the different IVF clinics statistics i.e. overall success rates, success rates by age, fresh eggs vs frozen, etc. I would consider having sperm frozen and shipped to an IVF clinic in the USA or Europe. Again, this is all very, very, expensive but it might be the best route for success. If you haven't already, spend time researching the IVF process and know the costs and chances of success before making any decisions.

Thanks, I thought about that but wanted to make sure I've done everything I can before reaching out. However, I'm tired of spinning my wheels so maybe it's time. Is this a SSA or USCIS issue? I'm not even sure where to focus. I have also see some posts about switching SSA offices, not sure if this would help.

Yes, it says case under review. Has said the same thing for a month. Tried contacting SAVE with no luck.

My spouse is having issues getting a SSN. We tried to get a SSN during the k-1 visa period but there was an issue and we were told to wait until he had a green card. So now he has his green card and we went into the SSA office and they told us that he had a "mismatch immigration status." The SSA officer told us we had to call Dept of Homeland Security to fix it and there was nothing more they could do. The officer also canceled his two other outstanding SSN applications (K-1 visa, and i-485 application where he checked he wanted a SSN). It has been one month since we went to the SSA office and we have gotten no where. We have called USCIS several time and we are currently waiting to hear back from a 3rd tier officer. We have called SSA a couple of more times and they keep saying there is nothing they can do (they did say they were looking at the SAVE system). We have left a message with a SSA supervisor with no return call. We also emailed and called the SAVE and couldn't reach anyone by phone and received a form email response that was not helpful. We are not sure what to do from here. We just keep getting the run around. I'm reading up here on VJ trying to see what others have done but I'm still confused. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks, I have tried the first but not the latter. I will give it a try!