travusb

15 hours ago, chrissandra said:

We did K1…but that was when process was not as slow as I see it is now. 
And even though our Adjustment of Status was processed really fast (I’m from Zagreb, hubby American) not being able to work for months until my green card and work permit was issued was fun maybe for 2 weeks…

as others are mentioning, spousal visa would definitely be my choice. Don’t get discouraged by paperwork though. Paperwork is a huge part of immigration reality for years until you are at the finishing line. I personally think that the attorney is not necessary, unless you have a complicated situation. Having an attorney will still require you to do the legwork. 
 

 

Totally agree with chrissandra on everything.

My wife found not working fun for a couple of weeks before it started driving her crazy, or was I the one doing that?

We ended up getting a puppy since she was home to train her all day. So all in all now we have a well trained 9 month old lab that we both adore so it wasn't all bad.

The biggest issue is that she was unable to travel back to Canada while we waited forever for her greencard.

Her father passed away from covid right before moving to the US and we we're worried about the same happening to her mother during this time.

The CR1 is by far the best the way to go. We only went with the K1 because at the time it was faster and gave us a 3 month living together trial run before anything was super final, but we regretted that immediately after she got here.

We also did all the paperwork ourselves and while it can be overwhelming sometimes it saved us a ton of money.

Sadly no one knows, and it'll take as much time as it takes.

I guess it depends on what document you forgot to send in the original application.

In general I recommend not submitting more information without first receiving an RFE.

I know you have your answer but I'll put this here incase someone else is thinking about doing something like this.

Never, under any circumstance, put down any information that you know is incorrect on immigration documentation.

When you sign at the bottom you are telling the US government that all the information above is correct to your knowledge.

If you later get an immigration officer that doesn't like you or could be having a bad day you could get an instant denial.

It's just not worth the risk to get something mailed to a more convenient location. 

10 minutes ago, EatBulaga said:

My question is will uploading additional documents slow down the process?

What is the harm in uploading documents as your marriage evolves? 

Or why dump all the documents at once at the interview?

For example, what is the harm to upload say the joint bank account info as you create one? And couple of weeks later upload joint electric bill? Or even upload the joint tax return come April?

 

You can still take all the documents to the interview for an evidence dump. But at least the USCIS can expect what is already uploaded?

 

Anyone who has uploaded not just for RFE can chime in?

I personally would refrain from uploading or changing anything. The best case is it is likely to change nothing. The worst case is since something changed they get confused or reset you in the queue of people.

Take any new information with you to the interview so if the agent has any questions you can answer and show documents as proof.

I know the waiting is hard but that's really all you can do.

My wife and I got a puppy during this time. It was a great opportunity because she could be home for potty-training and training as a puppy.

We just had our AOS interview a couple weeks ago and the puppy is ready to be home alone once we get her greencard and she finds a job, coming home at lunch to have a bathroom break and play session of course.

She was starting to feel the pain of not doing anything until we got the puppy. I think she's really enjoyed training and playing with her during the early development. She's a preschool teacher so it was kind of like she had a job again.

My wife filed on 10/23 and she was just approved on 04/04. My guess would be that you'll be approved any day now.

We also got our interview date on 05/10 so not going to get much use out of the EAD.

1 minute ago, AW1704 said:

We have bank account and credit card, lease car etc etc.

I think that's more than enough to show a shared financial life.

2 minutes ago, AW1704 said:

In other words, regardless of whether we go the MFS (and me not filing) or the MFJ route, either tax return will include my name, and is therefore something that could be furnished as evidence at an AoS interview?

I wouldn't even include it in your evidence since it has to be done because your married.

Having a joint bank account would be much better evidence in my opinion.

1 hour ago, AW1704 said:

Any thought about whether there is an "immigration benefit" of filing jointly? Let's say due to the particulars of our financial circumstances there is no financial benefit to filing jointly, or perhaps there is even a small cost, say a couple hundred dollars. In that circumstance, is it okay to not file? Or is that going to look really weird come a time when we need to prove evidence of bona fide marriage/comingling of finances etc etc.?

 

Seems like it should be perfectly fine to explain that there was no requirement to file, and doing so would've opened us up to a tax liability, so it was sensible to not file. But I suppose it is sacrificing a key piece of evidence that others cite as useful for AoS.

I don't know your situation but I would assume that filing jointly would reduce your tax burden, unless maybe your significant other made enough to put you in a different tax bracket with the bigger deduction. If for some reason it doesn't I don't see why filing MFS would be detrimental to the immigration process.

A joint tax return isn't something that I would say proves you're in a bona fide marriage. Just proves that you'd like a tax break.

If your significant other made any income in the US they will still need to file taxes. I'm not sure if they would need to if they didn't make any US income.

Either way you have to file as married just choice if you want that to be married filing jointly or married filing separately. 

I'm by no means a tax expert so if your taxes are aren't simple like my situation maybe getting an accountant to look them over is the best option.

13 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

You made some very wise (or lucky) decisions. Quitting her job before 2021 so no foreign income and getting her SSN has made filing your 2021 tax return very easy. 

The quitting the job and getting the SSN was planned to make it easy and simple. The being in the US over 183 during this year so that I can efile was a lucky accident.

@Wuozopo

Thanks for all that information. Makes me feel better knowing I was on the right track.

I've been trying to do some research for the last couple of hours and I think I have a handle on our tax situation but I want to make sure.

My wife is in the process of AOS, adjusting from a K1. She's been in the US a total of 270 days this year, she come to stay for 5 months at the beginning of 2021 while waiting for her K1 interview. She went back to Canada for the interview and come back to the US in September.

We had her quit her job at the end of 2020 so she could come to the US for that 5 months and go to the interview hassle free. So she hasn't made any income in 2021. We also got her SSN as soon as she got here to make it easier to file taxes this year.

So if I understand correctly we'll file as married filing jointly and will elect her as a resident alien since she's been in the US long enough. Since she has no income from Canada, no income at all, we won't have to file any foreign tax forms like a FEIE, or do we?

To elect resident alien does that mean I just file a tax return as normal, file a paper tax return with a specific option checked, or something else entirely?

Also am I correct in the assumption that she will qualify for the 3rd stimulus payment or do I need to do something special in that regards to not receive it by mistake?

I hope this makes sense and that I have as firm as an understanding as I think I have on our tax situation.

Thanks in advances for any replies with helpful information.

Just to confirm I checked CEAC 

I just got this email from the NVC that they sent our application to Montreal. 

10 minutes ago, RL & CH said:

New interview scheduled this morning for November 4.

I have not received P4 though, so I'm not sure how to go about scheduling a medical, but I will be phoning Dr. Cheema's office by Friday to inquire about new protocols in place due to COVID-19.

Congrats! Glad to hear things are moving somewhat.

42 minutes ago, Chipper15 said:

Ok Cool!

There must be a handful at the embassy that didnt get interviews...

Once you guys are all interviewed then I assume they will start shipping cases from NVC.

 

Hope you hear something soon!!

Hopefully they'll ship before they get interviewed as the P3 and P4 will take time to get done.

Looks like we all missed the shipment this week. I have my fingers crossed they ship on the  20th-21st shipment.

3 minutes ago, pooj97 said:

Same here. We're also still at NVC. Hopefully we all have some more luck on the next shipment dates

I'm more worried with how they are going to get sent and processed.

I'm hoping Montreal goes in order and in waves so the first people stuck at NVC are the first to be able to schedule their interviews.

3 minutes ago, Chipper15 said:

Yup; we are the same... still at NVC.

Any guesses on if they have got through all the reschedules of those that already had appts before COVID?

Someone made a really nice Google Doc keeping track of everyone.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yXsBaODEcERCnBkkVhTklmw1LrFVkY9dE6z2Q5D2kCc/edit?fbclid=IwAR3vAEWa0qBMWxHD9Qfm8Y7PVI0LzWQ303IGB_V9KZ_z_ncF35rpMoVFk5o#gid=0

2 minutes ago, Chica&Ace said:

Hi everyone: October 6 was supposed to be a shipment day (NVC to MTL) has anybody received a change in status “in transit” or even better packet info or an interview date?

 

We are really hoping to see progress...🍁

I'm still showing "At NVC". They could also ship today as the shipments happens on the Tuesday and Wednesday.

So I'm hoping, but not holding my breath.

50 minutes ago, Dougefresh56 said:

Don’t be sarcastic it makes absolute sense. 
 

I know a couple sho had two kids knowing they would go on Government assistance. So what’s the difference 

I'm sarcastic because I used many public benefits growing up. I grew up in a single parent household and we didn't have very much money.

When I was in school I got free breakfast and lunch which is normally all I ate for the day. When my sisters became pregnant I got to eat at home because they were eligible for WIC.

Then after I graduated high school I received financial aid to go to college. Then I graduated with a degree in computer science and started work as a software engineer and since then I have paid more than enough taxes to pay back what I used.

So I don't mind helping people that need help as long as they do not abuse the system and I realize that  by helping someone that is down you might be able to help them rise above it and help make our country better.

2 minutes ago, gregcrs2 said:

So you want a US citizen who has a biological child outside of the USA to require an I-864 even though the child would be a US citizen?  

Nope just anyone in the US that wants to have a child should be vetted and agree to support that child even if they come on hard times.

I mean I wouldn't want to support someone else child with my tax money. I want to be able to say, "They knew what they were getting into when they signed that they would support that child."

I'm being sarcastic by the way.

17 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

Wow I’m done- there’s no reasoning with some people and I’ll leave out my choice set of words. This post was created because someone felt it was wrong to finally enforce an enforceable document; pretty laughable to get upset with.  As a petitioner, you knew this was required to bring your family member over and if you couldn’t/wouldn’t/won’t abide by it then don’t sign it. There are two countries in every international relationship; so there is always another choice if you don’t want to abide by US immigration rules; no one is stuck. 

Then lets go ahead and require an I-864 before anyone in the US decides to bring a child into this country by giving birth. Let make sure they can afford the support that child and require them to sign a document that if their family comes on hard times they will not go on welfare or the sponsors will be sued by the government.

I mean they have a choice of having a child or not and they will know they are going to be required to sign this document and if they don't like it they can move to another country.

8 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

19 minutes ago, USAjune2016 said:

We don’t want to go back to Where I came from because this country need us the immigrants. If the US needs immigrants that don't complain that they can't utilize pubic benefits. That defeats the whole purpose of bringing people in to this county who can self sustain. Who kept the US running during the pandemic? Essential workers right? A lot of the nurses, restaurant workers, the people that pick up your trash, transporters, truck drivers... are immigrants. Without them the economy would have Maybe collapsed. True. But they are working. Not collecting public benefits so I'm not sure how this helps your case?

No one in this post has been against immigration... we are on a DIY immigration site after all... but having a system in place that ensures people are compliant with federal laws.. to think there is something wrong with that would lead me to believe you think you were entitled to immigrate to the country...as would be anyone else who just "wants" to come here. 

The fact is those people that are currently working to keep the economy running could lose their job at any moment at no fault of their own. Now they have paid taxes and they would be unable to receive assistance from the same programs that their tax money went to fund.

Maybe we should fix the system and not keep the people helping our country to grow from receiving help.

1 minute ago, Luckycuds said:

OP should have quoted you if he was referring to your post. The thing is in your scenario if you are the American, you CAN use public benefits! And if you are the immigrant and paid into the system your whole working life I would have to question why you chose to never become an American. Because if you did... you could get public benefits as well. 

Well they did but I think you missed it.