JKLSemicolon

Did you read the I-864 instructions? Specifically the part that reads: Edit: I see this was already pointed out. For what it’s worth, I took a belt and suspenders approach and provided both an employer letter and six months of recent pay stubs.

Can’t speak from personal experience but others on these forums have mentioned saying (repeatedly if necessary) “infopass” on the phone system or typing “live agent” in the chat to reach someone. It seems like Tier 2 officers usually can’t be reached right away and have to call you back, as you have seen. If you have already tried the phone route multiple times, maybe time to switch it up and do the live chat? Fingers crossed that maybe your document request from 5/29 will still result in the correct extension letter being mailed, there’s still time before all hope is lost.

Even if it is, I would not risk international travel with the printed PDF version. Best bet at this point would be to try to get an in-person infopass appointment for an ADIT stamp. You will probably have to keep being persistent with that and also with any attempts to reach a Tier 2 officer to see if another (in their eyes) copy of the extension letter can be sent out without waiting for 30 days. Edit: paging @mindthegap who has the most experience getting stamps in person…

When you mentioned the online case inquiry, are you referring to this form? https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/displayNDNForm.do?sroPageType=ndn&entryPoint=init And if so, does it not allow you to submit another request within 30 days there, or was that only what you were told on the phone?

In our state (NM) the Real ID compliant driver licenses or state IDs are only issued for one year at a time to conditional GC holders. We were told at the MVD office that this restriction comes from DHS. The license/ID itself is also marked “TEMPORARY” at the top. Since the deadline for Real ID compliance keeps getting pushed back we’ll probably do the non-Real ID version (issued for 4 years) next time around, which may not be an option in other states.

Perhaps it was due to a very literal interpretation or too quick of a reading of the “shouldn’t travel with them” part of the sentence below: In any case, your plan sounds fine. Some actionable advice for anyone else reading this thread could be to keep in mind that 1)form I-90 can be filed as early as 6 months before the GC expiration, 2) USCIS is sending 24-month GC extensions with the receipt notice but the original card must be present (so best to wait to send it in until asked through an RFE), and 3) as @Crazy Cat mentioned, an unexpired GC is not strictly necessary for travel back to the US but it’s a lot less stressful to have something (GC, GC + extension letter, I-551 stamp) that hasn’t expired.

But on the other hand, 12 years of marriage with the petitioner in the US is a long time to have not done a single thing on that front. That is, of course, assuming the idea is to live together in the US which is a big “if” as you have pointed out.

Not sure what evidence @LBX already has, but I will also point out that given the amount of time you have been married, evidence of a shared financial life in the US would also be important - e.g. adding your spouse to bank accounts, credit cards, insurance, retirement accounts, tax returns, etc. This is more difficult when one of the spouses is out of the country and doesn’t have an SSN but can be done with enough persistence. You can search these forums for guidance.

Just finished uploading the second 4 months' worth of additional evidence. Much smoother this time around.

I might suggest putting N/A in whatever required name field does not apply, along with a more detailed explanation in the Additional Information section.

Congrats! We haven’t heard anything yet but plan to upload more unsolicited evidence this week to cover January-April 2024, to add to the unsolicited evidence already submitted covering September-December 2023.

One other thing regarding the birth certificate, have you looked into getting it through a third-party service such as this one (which I have used previously for a different state)?

One option on that list is going through an attorney, which as @OldUser said in the first reply could be useful anyway given the nature of the situation.

Just wanted to add that this sounds a lot like the Sunk Cost Fallacy and you don’t want that to cloud your judgement. Try to lay out your alternatives objectively and weigh the pros and cons of each (this would be good to do during an attorney consultation if you end up getting one). I am saying this having in our case gone through the K-1 process and starting the Adjustment of Status before cutting our losses and starting over with a CR-1 visa. When your circumstances change sometimes that merits re-evaluating the path forward.

Your leaving in August is due to your husband’s taking a job in Vietnam and your essentially moving out of the country with him, correct? I am saying that given that, it makes sense to apply for the re-entry permit and complete biometrics before then, even if you do return at some point a few months after that. To me is less about ensuring you are able to re-enter the US on any given trip and more about justifying the (presumable) lack of evidence of a life together in the US after a certain point during the conditional residency period. Do give the I-407 route some serious consideration. If you search this forum you will find others who have gone that route and depending on the specifics, may be a better fit. Whatever you choose, put yourself in the shoes of someone adjudicating your case and think about the questions that they might have given your situation and how you can overcome that with quality evidence.

If you do plan on filing for removal of conditions, I would apply for the re-entry permit ASAP as if nothing else it serves as evidence that you intend to maintain permanent residency in spite of prolonged periods out of the country (which may be hard to justify and/or will create a large gap in evidence during the ROC process). A possible alternative would be to go to Vietnam, surrender the GC via I-407, have your husband petition for you again via I-130, delaying as needed at the NVC stage until ready to return to the US under the IR-1 category and receive a 10-year GC without the logistical complications of ROC. The obvious downside to that would be not being able to visit the US after surrendering the GC, which could possibly be remedied by applying for a B visa before filing a new I-130. The B visa is not guaranteed but you’d have a better chance after the I-407. Edit: the specific timing of when to surrender the GC via the I-407 would also be a factor when it comes to the possibility of travel to the US. There are pros and cons to each approach and you would have to compare costs, etc. but I think it’s at least worth laying out all of your options.

Just finished uploading some unsolicited evidence covering the time from our initial filing until the end of 2023. This was roughly 4 months of new evidence since we filed in September. Going forward, I think every 6 months could make sense, but I'm still on the fence about maybe just continuing with 4 months at a time. The upload was split into separate files covering different types of evidence during the period. Each file had footers with the petitioner's (i.e. conditional PR's) name, period of evidence, type of evidence, and page numbers (1 of n, etc.). The 12mb limit per file is pretty reasonable, but I did spend some time fine tuning the Optimize a PDF settings in Acrobat to make sure the quality wasn't degraded. My only piece of advice to those submitting multiple files would be to upload them one at a time. That way, you can make sure they appear on the list in the order you want. The most recently uploaded files appear at the top. I didn't heed my own advice and tried uploading 5 files at once; this made them appear on the list in the random order they finished uploading, which is slightly annoying after trying to be thoughtful about how to name/number everything. After having gone through the experience of putting together the first batch of additional evidence, I think it will be smoother the next time around.

Unless you have clear, written documentation from USCIS that supports what you were told over the phone, I don’t see how anything other than the fee as of April 1 could be accepted.

Have you tried a different e-file provider to see if the same thing happens when using the original dates? I would try somewhere else first with the same dates as before that allow you to exclude all of your income. If that doesn’t work, changing the dates as you suggested may be the way to go. If you qualify, maybe try another of the options here: https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/

This exact thing indeed happened to someone I know (unable to collect inheritance in a country that does not allow dual citizenship after becoming a US citizen). Hopefully @Jenna24 can let us know the country so we can know whether that applies.

Strictly from the standpoint of fees, I don’t see a reason to file before the changes go in effect in April. It looks like the cost of filing online will actually go down slightly (from $725 to $710) due to the $50 discount, and for paper filers although the regular fee will go up slightly (to $760), the reduced fee option ($380) will be available to a wider range of incomes than before (up to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines): https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/outreach-engagements/2024FinalFeeRule.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-fees/frequently-asked-questions-on-the-uscis-fee-rule

When did you file the petition?

If they do the congressional inquiry and 45 days later there is still no progress, they could submit a request through the USCIS Ombudsman: https://www.dhs.gov/case-assistance

If you have/create an account on MyUSCIS and link the case once it’s received, you can always upload “unsolicited evidence” like this later if you wish. As others have said, I certainly wouldn’t delay filing because of it.

A mistake like that from your lawyers could have potentially had huge negative consequences for you. Might be time to start looking for someone more competent (if you think you need a lawyer at all).