Gauchos

2 hours ago, Vonvon said:

@Gauchos that’s reassuring. Congrats on fast approval. It seems like the one for CT can be only done by mail. Cheque still hasn’t cleared they supposed to mail the certificate to me. Not sure how accurate the 5-10 days is. Wait is very frustrating.

Our RFE specified state police clearance records as an alternative so I took the path of least resistance and got the free background check offered by the county. The State of Ohio BCI report seemed like a hassle. The local or county-level report may or may not be an option for you, but I imagine you aren't terribly excited to do more legwork since you've already ordered one from the state.

This happened to us in March. We resubmitted the police certificate from our K1 (+translation) and a criminal background check from the county in which we live now. Our county background check was literally just a short request form that we filled out, witnessed by the receptionist at the county jail, and an ink stamp stating that no records were found. We were approved 10 days after they acknowledge receipt. Yes, send certified copies by mail.

58 minutes ago, dmeister3 said:

Compiling my evidence for my RFE. Am I able to just upload the evidence to the portal? There's a big button that says upload evidence. Would love to save paper and also time.

I would think in your case you would want to mail it all in one package. If I understand correctly, they want the I-693 medical from you, which needs to be sealed, and a copy of your marriage certificate, which probably should be a certified copy. I suppose you could split the response so the proof of ongoing relationship is uploaded, but I personally would stress out that some jerk might decide that you didn't provide a complete response when only looking at the online or mailed portion.

1 minute ago, Shaz1 said:

 Congratulations. 
when did you filed?

Thank you! April 26, 2022.

Green card approved! They are really dedicated to getting fingerprints - the approval came with a notice that we may be required to do biometrics again.

2 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Print the reciprocity documents text that states certified copies are not available in Brazil and include it in the RFE response. 

Thank you, that is great advice. 

I’m probably just looking for some validation here. We had our AOS interview and learned at the end that biometrics was unable to get my wife’s fingerprints twice. We now have to get certified copies of police certificates from every place that she’s lived in the past 5 years. The RFE states in bold letters that the documents must be certified original or certified copies. It also specifically calls out Brazil and the location where we now live as locations that she has lived in the past 5 years.

The police certificate in Brazil is obtained online. We still have a copy of the one that we submitted at (and was accepted by) the consulate in Brazil for her K1. Obviously, it doesn’t have a stamp or a seal since it’s obtained online, but it does have a digital signature that can authenticated. It is still valid since it’s within the 2 year period (and she hasn’t returned to Brazil). 
 

The US Department of State specifically lists certified copies as not being available in Brazil (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Brazil.html). Am I overthinking this? I should be safe to include the police certificate from the K1? 

I'm just following up in case anyone runs into the same situation. We had to file with the local courts in Brazil and pull the entirety of the cases. One court put an ink stamp on documents, while another court would not. We ended up getting the documents authenticated with an apostille in Brazil. Our IO remarked that the apostille stamps were fancy and accepted the documents as certified. He didn't really seem to care about the foreign court records, to be honest. There also didn't seem to be any issue with not disclosing anything on the K1/DS-160 vs disclosing for AOS since there were no arrests or convictions. It didn't even come up. We have to get more police certificates due to being unable to get her fingerprints at biometrics appointments, but I'll litter VJ elsewhere with those complaints.

15 hours ago, nena_bby said:

So sorry that happened! I am not sure how they were able to mess up the biometrics twice. We have our GC interview in two weeks, I'm  hoping it will go smoothly as so many others interviews were already waived. 

Yeah, tough break, but it could always be worse. They explicitly told us that we were called for an interview because of the fingerprint issue, so if you've had two biometrics appointments then I suggest you get police certificates ready for your interview. They didn't even tell us the issue until the end of the interview. They would have accepted police certificates right there, but of course how were we to know that we needed them?

We just had the GC interview. Unfortunately, it turns out the reason why we were selected to go to the interview is because they were unable to get her fingerprints twice as well as at the interview itself. So now we will get an RFE to provide police clearance records for the past 5 years. I really, really hope that we can just resubmit a copy of the police certificate used at the K1.

18 hours ago, lastrose said:

Received an RFE today :-(. Was hoping to avoid this to get right to the approval and have no idea what it could be for. I suppose silver lining is that at least they have looked at our case!

I recall some other folks on here getting RFEs for I-693 medicals and then quickly getting their GCs approved without an interview so this may actually be a good sign for you.

EAD and AP approved. I’m not sure if it’s normal to issue both right before the green card interview. I hope it’s just a coincidence and not some indication that they anticipate a long approval process after the interview. 

35 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Not all crimes are equal, is the issue one that may be of relevance for Immigration or not?

I don’t expect the crime to be an issue - offending the honor of someone else. We might call it the US version of defamation, but criminal instead of civil. These cases can be registered without the cooperation of a prosecutor. Essentially, she was accused of calling someone names and the case was dismissed. 

Just now, Boiler said:

DS 160 asks if you have been arrested, what did she answer?

No. She was never arrested. 

7 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

what documents did she provide with her Brazil  criminal report at the embassy for the K1 interview?

She provided her police certificate. This was blank as she had never been convicted (or arrested) of anything and there is a process to remove dismissed cases from appearing on the certificate. The I-485 is much more specific in what it asks. We disclosed everything on the I-485 and included documents that were available to us, but not “certified” documents unless the ones from TJRS will be considered certified. 

I'm hoping someone can help - my wife has her AOS interview coming up and she was charged with a crime that was dropped. The Court of Justice of the state of RS hosts a site for its court cases (TJRS) and the documents that declare the final dispositions are available for download. These documents contain a 'certification' at the bottom with a URL and a code that can be used to verify that the submitted document is authentic. My wife is a lawyer in Brazil and assures me that this is the only document that the court will provide. They will not certify the document in any other way or provide a signature, stamp, seal, etc. We also have counsel in Brazil who says the same thing. Does anyone have experience with court documents from Brazil or Rio Grande do Sul? Will USCIS accept a document that's 'certified' this way?

I've been sitting around, jealous of @Carlos.Brazil and their I-485, and shockingly discovered that we were scheduled for interview today. Now I'm going to be furiously pressing refresh on myuscis until the document appears with the interview date. I can't believe we didn't get an RFE.

4 hours ago, nena_bby said:

Any other April filers still waiting for EAD approval 😕 

You aren't alone.

On 9/3/2011 at 9:54 PM, Avelline said:

City/ Town: Akron

State: Ohio

Date of Service: 08/11

CS Name: Ray E Benson @ Concentra Medical Center

CS Tel. no: (330) 724-3345

Cost: $43

Vaccine Transcription only available: N

Turnaround time: 40 mins

After calling every number from the USCIS website of doctors in my area, I am happy I went with Akron's Concentra. The receptionist I spoke to was very helpful and even called me back to confirm the cost. There was a mixup at the time of my interview (they initially thought I needed a physical exam) but the doctor cleared that up and I wasn't charged for the exam. Dr. Benson was friendly and was happy to fill out the paperwork and have a chat about immigration.

Beware of the Concentra in Cleveland though. When I called them I had a very unpleasant talk with the receptionist who told me that they "don't do AoS" and that they ONLY do physical exams for immigration, then she hung up on me.

11 years later I am writing to report that Dr. Benson is still at Concentra Akron and still performing this service. Finding this recommendation was really helpful because we had terrible luck at the first civil surgeon before we found this thread. The only thing that I would add is that they don't take insurance for the vaccines so get them somewhere else. The price has increased a whopping $4 for the paperwork to $47.

We had our second round of Biometrics. Unfortunately, the same guy who did it the first time was there for the second time. My wife is under the impression that her fingers were pushed down way too hard both times and the images are terrible. Anyone know if they go for a third try?

It looks like they screwed up our biometrics. We were just notified about appointment #2 because they didn’t get a good set of fingerprints the first time. Shouldn’t they have software that verifies the quality of the prints? 

21 hours ago, Abhik30 said:

Hi everyone, 

watching everyone proceeding is awesome, hopefully the wait becomes shorter and shorter.

Just a recap of mine.

Sent pkg: April 19th

NOA1's: April 20

Just did biometrics on May 24th and now I485 and I765 says actively being reviewed. I131 still says case received 😕 . 

 

Quick question though: My biometrics were only for I485 and I765 not for I131. And the I131 status still says "Case Received". Does I131 not need biometrics? 

I've seen elsewhere on here that biometrics aren't required for the I-131. You're in good company - our biometrics appointment also excluded the I-131.

1 hour ago, Oti&Dum said:

Okay, I got it. I just added some pictures from the wedding and if anything, I'll bring more to the interview. So you're saying that you included three marriage certificate copies, one for each form? I only sent one, hopefully it's not gonna be a problem. Also, what's de difference between a certified copy and a regular one? I just put a normal one. 

Yes, one for each form, but the general advice is that only one is required with the I-485 when all three forms are filed together. A certified copy (the version with a seal) isn't strictly required according to the instructions, but some folks have received RFEs for sending a regular copy and had to send a certified copy in response.

31 minutes ago, Oti&Dum said:

Great! Thanks a lot! 

So did you guys include anything else beside the forms and the required documents, like pictures or proof of relationship? Or the marriage certificate is enough?

I didn't put any proof of relationship beyond the marriage certificate. I get the sense (at least with the I-864) that extra information has the potential to cause problems. I did include a certified copy of the marriage certificate with the I-485 and photocopies for I-131 and I-765 because my wife changed her name and I read a few instances on here of RFE's for the I-765 even when a marriage certificate was sent for the I-485.

5 hours ago, Andrs01-2020 said:

Our details:

 

Sent Complete Package from K1 - very detailed as all the people suggest through experience

 

04/08/2022 - USPS Certified Priority Mail -- on the usps website doesnt confirmed 'delivery' - it just states Arrived at Post Office - 04/12/2022 -- Chicago

04/14/2022 - received 3 text messages - case received

04/19/2022 - received by regular mail 3 letters -- NOA1 i guess -   i-485, i-131 & i-765

 

we'll see who is lucky and receive any documents first

 

 

 

ASC Appointment Notice - Case type I485; I765 -- Biometrics  -- date of appt - 05/11/2022 10am

with Applicants Information Worksheet - (AIW) - to fill out

 

UPDATE!!

we received a letter for the interview!! -- 06/23/2022 - 

pretty much to bring all document we sent with original package plus all other documents to confirm relationships - 

 

When I filled the AP travel form, I wrote down we were planing to have trip on october, did that help?? this is too fast

 

 

That's incredible. Two in the April 2022 cohort from different field offices already scheduled for an interview. Congratulations!

2 hours ago, PatLuvO said:

Biometrics was completed on Friday the original date was June 1st but do to schedule conflicts we went early. Immediately after the case stauts changed  for the I-765 and I-485 to "actively reviewing". Now the wait begins. 

Did you have to schedule or were you able to just show up?