JKLSemicolon

I’m glad the card is arriving soon. In case anyone reads this later on I wanted to share a somewhat similar experience of a green card arriving while the GC holder was out of the country: After my wife entered for the first time with an endorsed CR-1 visa with an I-551 stamp good for a year, the physical card took 4 months to arrive and as a result came in the mail when she was out of the country. When she returned to the US, the airline rep was confused with the still-valid stamped visa and called the number for (I think) CBP where the person on the phone wanted to know why she didn’t have the GC that had been issued. Although it took some explaining, eventually everything was fine. She was told that the next time she traveled she needed to use the GC instead of the stamp. I don’t see why there actually would have been a problem traveling with the stamp again while it was still valid, but we didn’t need to find out. Based on that one would imagine that the expired GC and a still-valid extension letter would work the same way even after a new GC is issued, although if using that to travel it wouldn’t hurt to budget some extra time for the check-in process at the airport.

We did credit card payments three times and at least once I can remember having to respond quickly to a (texted) fraud alert from my bank in order for the payment to go through. The main reason was to get the credit card rewards on a larger expense. With our latest filing we sent a check from a joint account, which in my mind also helps as one small part of the overall picture of shared finances couples need to demonstrate.

Put yourself in the shoes of your spouse who at the moment: 1. Has no work authorization 2. Cannot leave the country even for something like a family emergency without starting over with an ~18-month visa process in order to return to the U.S. 3. Just left behind everything in their home country to start a new life here. And consider that every day you don’t file delays #1 and 2 further, and every day after the 90-day mark also adds to the fact that even something like a traffic stop could lead to being detained by ICE (there is a well-known thread about that in this forum) or even deported. Finally, consider that you have to pay the $1225 at some point, so if you truly don’t have the money right now, the only thing you’re saving by waiting is the interest on a loan or credit card payment for that amount. If you were the intending immigrant, what do you think would be more important: saving up for the filing cost or minimizing the extra wait and risk above? And how would you feel if your partner (who is supposed to be able to support you financially in this process) balks at what is only one of many fees needing to be paid during what is going to be a long immigration journey? This is not intended to be a personal attack; it’s just that it’s important to consider things from the perspective of the most vulnerable person here.

There’s a separate thread about it here: Rather than trying to speed anything up, we are approaching it more as a way to continue to provide evidence that we accumulate between the time of the initial filing and whenever USCIS makes a decision on the case. My personal opinion is that it can’t hurt and might help, and I’m willing to put in the time necessary for that. Your mileage may vary.

I understand you’re curious and @OldUser has tried to provide some answers to your questions but at this stage I would keep it simple and just focus more on gathering as much quality evidence as possible and make sure you are following the form instructions to the letter. In the end that is the part under your control and will be in your best interest later on, interview or no interview.

It’s strange, but having a USCIS online account does not necessarily mean you have a USCIS online account number (which is usually assigned by USCIS via a mailed notice). In our case, my wife has an account but still left Part 1, question 9 on the I-751 form blank.

Do you have any red flags that would prompt a visit? They are not the norm.

I wouldn’t solely rely on it, but myUSCIS also sends out email notifications when there is a change to the case status. I can’t remember if it is enabled by default or needs to be configured in the settings.

Ah right, disregard the SSN comment. I was remembering the difficulty of getting the SSN on a K1 during the pandemic in 2020 which was a unique mess that fortunately no longer applies. OP, we did both the K1 and CR1 process (see my profile/timeline) and I came away feeling, as most here do, that the CR1 is far superior.

Different state, but we found having a Social Security number (which is faster via the CR1 route) makes so many things easier.

27 months (per OP’s timeline) unfortunately seems to be right in line with current processing times. Congrats @gregoryagu

Just wanted to revive this thread and say that we’re planning to upload some additional “unsolicited evidence” on myUSCIS soon covering the period from submission to the end of the calendar year (i.e. September-December 2023). Depending on how that goes, we’ll decide whether it makes sense to continue to do that quarterly or every 6 months. Since this option of uploading evidence is available this will be our way of staying organized and having something (hopefully) productive to do with the wait. Will try to report back here and in the unsolicited evidence thread since I haven’t looked closely at the file size requirements, etc. and how that will affect what we end up submitting and whether it is broken up into multiple files, etc.

Just a few other thoughts: - As a general rule I wouldn’t expect anything useful to happen when calling USCIS unless you talk to a Tier 2 officer. - Based on experiences posted on this forum I would not expect much to come out of contacting elected representatives. Edit: and finally as mentioned earlier, you are still well within processing times as posted on the USCIS website (15 months).

Correspondence for a K-1 petition should be addressed to the petitioner, but if you expect any mail for the beneficiary you should absolutely put their name on the inside of the mailbox, too. If the address is eligible for Informed Delivery you should absolutely sign up for that as a general best practice. Finally, is the address they sent the NOA1 to formatted properly based on the USPS database (which you can verify in the USPS “Look up a zip code” tool? Calling USCIS is clearly not helping here (as is often the case), so if you think something needs to be done other waiting patiently perhaps you could send a letter to the USCIS office address listed on the NOA1 (including a copy of the NOA1 and referencing the case number, petitioner and beneficiary name/DOB in the header) explaining the situation as clearly and succinctly as possible. If you did go that route (which I’m not sure many would recommend) I would keep things short and sweet and not expect a reply.

Do you have access to the case via your myUSCIS account? If so, the option to upload “unsolicited evidence” (as discussed in the thread below) might be what you are looking for:

Whether they should be signed depends if you filed electronically (no signature) or printed them out and mailed them (with a wet signature). Reading your concerns, if I were you and wanted to cover all your bases, I would: - Send the tax returns (including all W2s and schedules) as they appear in TurboTax to satisfy the wording of the RFE - Also send in the associated tax return transcripts In other words, if you’re worried about whether to send one or the other, just do both.

We had no issues during a recent trip to Ecuador other than not being able to check in online ahead of time. The GC/extension letter was only needed for the return flight to the US (for the outbound flight they only need to see the passport), and the agent at the airline counter (AA) was familiar with the documents. Although the CBP agent in Miami had a slight attitude, after reviewing the passport + GC + extension letter, eventually just said "welcome back". Edited to add: we did bring a copy of the relevant pages of the CBP Carrier Information Guide along just in case it was needed for clarification at any point, but didn't end up using it.

As far as I know, the ITIN letter is mailed to the mailing address listed on the W-7. Once it is processed you can also call the IRS ITIN help line (be prepared to wait and/or call back multiple times) to get the actual number if needed. And as long as you follow the instructions correctly, your tax return will be filed with the newly assigned ITIN regardless of whether you receive the ITIN letter in the mail. Edited to add: look at the documents they accept in the instructions and see what else you can provide besides a passport. We used a certified copy of a foreign birth certificate along with a state ID. There are many possible combinations.

If updating the passport name is possible, I agree that would be one way to go about it. Many countries don't allow it but maybe @SansTortoise could specify which country we are talking about here.

Just a data point here that at the DS-260 stage the DOS changed the beneficiary’s last name in their system to match the passport (with both paternal and maternal last names) despite the I-130 being approved by USCIS with a different last name (in this case, the married name). As a result, the visa and green card were issued based on what was on the passport. We’re currently waiting until citizenship to do any name change because of this; your mileage may vary.

If the immigrant (not sure if that’s you) previously set up a myUSCIS account, it’s possible that the case has been added there.

All the best to you with that approach and I don’t doubt that it can work, but I would advocate playing the percentages and posit that when it comes to all of the people who might read this thread and act on it over the long term, they are better off following the instructions as written regarding fees, required evidence, etc.

Despite @flicks1998’s data point to the contrary, in cases where biometrics are reused (which can’t be known ahead of time), a packet that doesn’t include the biometrics fee as specified in the instructions could just as easily be returned without being accepted or processed. This happens frequently when USCIS determines that the correct filing fee wasn’t included.

In my opinion the paper trail is also useful for any future filings. When we refiled after abandoning the I-485 I included (as additional/unsolicited evidence) both a copy of my letter to USCIS as well as their response, and mentioned it briefly in a cover letter. Connecting the dots yourself in the most succinct way possible will be faster than waiting for someone else to discover it on their own, and will also prevent mistakes (which would only end up hurting you anyway). If you’re interested, the relevant statute that USCIS cited in their correspondence is here: 8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii)(A)

To put it simply, the calculator is correct (assuming you answer all of the questions accurately).