M_S

Hello everyone, I have a question regarding my tax and residency status for 2021 and was wondering if someone had any advice for my situation. So I recently completed my AOS process from F-1 visa (via marrying my US citizen spouse), and received my green card in the mail last week. My permanent residence is the same as my spouse, in Michigan. However, as part of my STEM OPT I have been working in upstate NY for the last 5 weeks or so.

I was previously advised here that since we are treating this move as temporary and my residence is in MI, and I will also be commuting to work from there a week or two every month, along with the fact that my spouse still lives there, that I don't need to notify USCIS of an address change. However I was looking into my tax situation for this year and it doesn't seem like MI and NY have an agreement between them to avoid double taxation. Will I be liable for taxes both in MI and NY as a resident? or in MI as a resident, and NY as a non-resident? Financially speaking, will it be smarter if I change my residence to NY (which would mean notifying USICS too of my change of address, if I'm not mistaken) so that I avoid getting taxed doubly. I do have an apartment here with a lease in my name, along with utility bills etc, but for now my credit cards are still on my 'current' permanent address in MI.

I looked into my paychecks and my taxes currently are being withheld as a NY state resident, with no taxes going to MI.

FWIW i didn't get my combo card either. My interview was a little under two months after biometrics and I've already received the GC in the mail.

12 minutes ago, Ediye said:

Oh wow. Congrats guys. This is so encouraging. Mine is next week. 

Did you guys have to print every single thing you had submitted before and take them with you? Did they even ask for it? And also, what questions exactly did they ask you both?

All the best for your interview! I hope it goes well!!

We did end up printing every single thing that we had submitted. The interviewer asked us if we has any more proof that we wanted to submit, so we just gave her printouts of updated docs like lease, insurance etc. Oh, and we also submitted some photos of us from over the past year. I also had to give her an update about my new job, like location, and name of company. I offered her copies of my offer letter etc, but she said she was fine without it. 

Other than that, most of the questions she asked us were routine, mostly directed at me. I'm a nervous talker so I blabbered on a bit more than she asked for some questions and she didn't seem to mind that haha. Overall she was very friendly and we were out of the building within like 20 mins or so after our scheduled interview time

We had our interview in the morning in Detroit today too. It went fine, and was pretty straightforward. The interviewer said that she was going to review the documents for a bit and approve our case today if there aren't any discrepancies. That was 4 hours ago, and I just checked the online portal and my status has changed to "New Card Is Being Produced". Hopefully we will get it in the next couple weeks. I feel so relieved. 

If anyone has any more questions about my experience, please feel free to ask me. I'd be more than happy to help in whatever way I can! 🙂

24 minutes ago, muisti said:

I've been in touch with a few people who had their AOS interview in Detroit this past two weeks, and they all said the officers were friendly, the interviews were short and everyone got approved on spot. I heard that the only questions the officers asked were the questions from i-485/i-130 forms, in Detroit at least, it seems that the interview process goes smooth and fast

That's reassuring. If they do approve me on the spot I'll be pretty pumped because it will be right in time for when the Canadian border opens up too 😁

5 hours ago, cooleynata said:

I can see that a number of you have had their interviews scheduled for 5th August - how did it go? 

 

Would appreciate for any thoughts on the interview etc. 

Our interview is tomorrow too, so I'll update how it goes afterwards. Right now I'm printing more copies of everything that we submitted for the interview, along with the changes to our info since we submitted the application. Oh and also printed a few more photos of stuff we did in the past 8 months since we submitted the application. It almost hurts me to be printing so much stuff, but such is life 😐

We've also been practicing answers to some FAQ's we found online. Hopefully that'll be sufficient!

On 7/9/2021 at 3:42 PM, hlynnf23 said:

 

Our notice came today, we are also August 5th in the afternoon!  

Awesome! Our notice came in the mail on Friday too. Best of luck to all of us! 

Btw there do seem to be a bunch of stuff that we need to be bringing to the interview according to the notice. So much paper being used just for one day. Wish there was a better way 😅

2 hours ago, muisti said:

We have the interview on the same day, good luck!! And let's keep each other posted about how it went when we're done 😁 by the way, I've read that some people bring to the interview a copy of the entire application packet (stuff they've already submitted) in addition to the originals and the most recent docs (e.g. recent bank statements) -- is it really necessary to submit things we've already submitted? Will you be doing that?

Yeah, I've read that too. I honestly don't think I'm willing to print out my whole original application again (it was well over 300 pages AFAIR). I was just going to bring my originals, copies of the original documents, along with the recent bank statements/insurance/lease renewal/etc., and whatever else the interview notice tells us to bring. 

Someone else in this forum might be able to chime in and tell us if they think it's vital that we bring a whole another copy of our original application, but I hope not lol

I was finally able to find time to contact live chat and was told that my interview is on Aug 5th in the morning. Just got done with my i-693 today too. Now we just need to wait and prep for the interview 😃

1 hour ago, hlynnf23 said:

Update: 

6/15/21 Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview 

7/1/21 Interview was scheduled. 
 

We are in shock! 

 

1 hour ago, muisti said:

Same!!! My interview was scheduled today in Detroit, too (PD Dec 17). I talked to a live agent and found out it's scheduled for August 5

holy ####### us too, I can't believe how fast this has happened (PD: 12/09/21). Not sure what the interview date is yet though, I wonder if talking to a live agent tomorrow will give them enough time to update their systems to let us know

I got notifications that there were some new replies to this thread so just on a whim decided to check my own case status, and apparently my I-485 has also been updated to 'Case Is Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview'. This happened on the 15th of June, a week after my biometrics appointment (which was on 6/8 in Grand Rapids, MI). I actually have a few questions now, if people can help me find answers to those things-

1. I'm not a super frequent visitor on these forums so how long after this case update should I expect an interview date? I'd assume within a month or two in normal circumstances but not sure how COVID has affected everything
 

2. I'm moving to upstate NY for work (currently on STEM-OPT) in about 3-4 weeks time. It's just going to be me and my spouse is going to stay back in MI. I know that I have to report my change of address to USCIS, but does that mean that our interview location also has to be changed corresponding to my location, or can it stay the same as it is now (which should be somewhere in MI, I'm assuming)?

3. We were planning on visiting each other for at least a week or two every month, and had planned on saving all our flight tickets and travel itineraries as proof of continued relationship. We are also on each other's bank accounts, insurance etc. Is there any other proof that we might need at the interview?

4. I haven't done my I-693 yet. Should I go and get it done now, now that our case is progressing, or should I wait for an actual interview date before scheduling anything? Taking into account where I'll be moving to, it's going to be a lot more convenient to get it done here.

Finally, it's so nice to see all of our cases progressing. It's really nice to be able to come here and talk to people who are going through the same thing I am. So happy for all of us!

Hi fellow Dec 2020 filers. I files for AOS from F-1 visa and I figured I should also give my timelines.

12/09/2020 - Priority Date for my application (I-130, I-485 + EAD-AP combo card)

01/07/2021 - Received NOA in the mail (Notice Date 01/02/2021)

Service Center - National Benefits Center

04/02/2021 - Received I-693 Deficiency notice (Dated: 03/26/2021)

05/24/2021 - Received ASC appointment notice for biometrics appointment for 06/08/2021

ASC - Grand Rapids, MI

The timing is great because my F1-OPT was expiring on 06/15. Does anyone know how long it should be between the appointment and receiving the EAD-AP combo card. I recently got a job offer (starting potentially around mid-June) and I need to let them know about my starting dates. If it takes more than a couple weeks then I was wondering if I should just go ahead and apply for STEM-OPT to avoid a big gap in employment

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering if anyone can tell me long it takes to receive a notice of action for I-130 while filing online?

Some background info first: I'm on an F-1 visa, currently on OPT, applying for AOS due to marrying my american citizen spouse.

We were going to file i-130/i-485 concurrently and I had most of my documents ready but I recently switched to my spouse's health insurance and it's going to take a couple weeks for the letter from the health insurance to arrive certifying that we are currently enrolled in their health insurance. I need that document because I only have a document for summary of benefits for our health plan (which doesn't have my name on it) and a health insurance card, and from reading the instructions, they seem to be not enough proof for the I-944.

So instead of waiting for that letter to arrive, we were wondering if we could just apply for the I-130 online and attach the NOA to the I-485 and supporting documents once I get the document from our health insurance. I know that we wont be able to submit my application for the EAD/AP combo card until I file the I-485, but I feel like submitting the I-130 online might give us a better priority date, especially if takes less than a day or two to receive the NOA when filing. 

What are your thoughts on this? Any advice is greatly appreciated

Thanks!

Yeah, I think we are going to go down the money order route this time. I'd used it for my OPT EAD. I wish I'd been on here before and known about the horror stories with credit cards payments and the USCIS. Nothing we can do about it anymore though except for refiling. My only saving grace is that I should be able to file for STEM-OPT to avoid any gap in employment.

1 hour ago, optimusx said:

Since you know for sure that your application has been rejected and you are confident about the reason for rejection, then I guess there should not be any issues with filing a brand new package to save time. I have no clue whether refiling a returned package makes anything go faster - maybe the lockbox staff don't need to rescan all the previously scanned documents in their system again. The only tangible benefit for the applicant I can think of is not having to prepare a new package.

Yeah, we're just going to get our package ready and re-file within the next few days. If our declined package comes by then, great, we'll send that in instead.

Thanks for your help!

8 minutes ago, optimusx said:

My initial AOS package was returned to me a month later after I had filed, because of issue with credit card payment. I used personal checks for refiling and my AOS package was accepted. I think that sometimes people don't get their returned package in time because USCIS sends the package using the most basic form of USPS mail, which has an extremely slow delivery timeframe. They will return your entire package, but you will see that all the documents will be reorganized in a different order, and all the pages will also have alphanumeric codes printed at the bottom. You will also see a large green form that will be attached on the top of the package - you must add that form on your package when you refile. You can actually refile using that returned package itself, just make sure to check that the edition date of each form is current when you refile. When I refiled my AOS package, I replaced the I-765 form because a new version was introduced.

One of the reasons we're feeling the time crunch is because I wanted to get my EAD/AP combo card before my OPT and visa expire in June '21 (I know F-1 visa is D/S and I could've applied for STEM-OPT, but we would love to at least have the option to travel if COVID vaccine is widely available by then). This is why I was considering just filing the whole thing again, instead of waiting for USCIS to return my package.

Also, it's been more than a month already since we filed, and considering USPS and USCIS delays these days I don't have a ton of confidence that we will be getting our packages anytime soon. Do I need to use that green form when we file again? Because we don't have the returned package yet, and I'm not sure we want to wait longer than, say the end of the week before we start printing out everything again

Thanks for your reply!

Honestly, the only reason we were waiting for the package is because I couldn't get a definite answer to whether the whole package had been denied or just the I-485 part. I'm not well versed into how this works so I wasn't sure if they would deny only one part of the package and send back the rest.

Guess I'll have to print the whole thing again and change a few things that have updated since we filed in Oct (like supporting documents in the I-944 form)

Hi everyone,

I'm currently here in the US on my F1 student visa currently doing my OPT. Me and my spouse (US citizen) filed an AOS for me on the 28th of Oct and we haven't heard anything from USCIS since then which is starting to worry us a little bit. I used my credit card to pay for the application and I received a notification on the 18th of November for a pending transaction of $535 for the I-130 at 'CHICAGO LOCKBOX'. I received a fraud alert for the $1225 for I-485 which happened at 5 am so I wasn't able to respond in time, and the charge was declined. The pending transaction of $535 has since fallen off my card. Guess we should have realized that paying via check would have been more guaranteed, but nothing we can do about it now unfortunately.

Anyway, so we were hoping to receive our package back so that we can send it in again with payment through checks instead but we haven't received it yet. We contacted USCIS customer care on Monday (Nov 30th) to figure out what's going on, and we were told that they have no record of it being declined or being accepted in their records. We were told to email Lockbox support so that they can figure out what happened with our package, and I know it's only been two days but we haven't heard back from them yet.

Can anyone tell me what's happening here. I was assuming that at least the I-485 has been declined and will be sent back to us, but why is there no record of that in their database? Is this return within normal timelines, especially considering the thanksgiving weekend? 

We are of half a mind to just send in a new application, but is it prudent considering that the charge for I-130 wasn't declined, and that means that it might actually be accepted? 

Thanks for your help!