EatBulaga

Hello Everyone, I just want to follow up that we finally received the updated Social Security card in the mail today with no "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION". Did anyone else have the trouble of going to the SSO more than once to remove the restriction? Thanks.

It is your choice to fill it out or not. My experience is that unless the foreigner LPR is receiving a LOT of interest dividends from the US bank, then the W8-BEN paperwork is worth the trouble to fill out. If the bank interest is less than say 1000, then withholding 30% isn't worth filing the W8-BEN. Most joint filers mix the 30% bank withholding in the IRS filing return anyway. I had asked similar questions for my K1-to-AOS spouse a while back at https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/790033-w-8ben-for-k1-to-aos-filer/

Greetings everyone, we are K1-to-AOS who had previously tried to update the Social Security card (SSC) with the I-551 permanent resident card (2-year green card). Just want to share with others some difficulties we are experiencing in case anyone else is going thru the same. We first went to the SSO in 2023-06 with no appointments after receiving the green card to remove the "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION" on the SSC. The previous SS agent rushed us by inputting the green card info into the computer and barely looked at the SS-5. Then she said we should be getting something in the mail. But we never got any confirmation and we never received the updated SSC in the mail. We went again recently (2024-05) to the SSO with a scheduled appointment to update the SSC with the green card. This time the SS agent was more meticulous and took our SS-5 and gave us a confirmation letter with a reference number and a stamped copy of the SS-5 showing the received date. The confirmation letter stated: Before we can issue you a Social Security, we must verify the document(s) you gave us to show your Alien status with the Federal, State, or local office in the United States that issued the document(s). This may take up to 4 weeks. The SS agent said that USCIS probably did not respond to the previous SS request to verify the green card. This second request to verify the green card can take up to 6 to 8 weeks. So if any of you had problems with removing the DHS Authorization restrictions for work on your Social Security card, just be persistent and you may have to go to the SSO more than once. Just keep grinding.

Thanks for the reminder!!!

I read a while back that the Social Security Office could verify the I-94 electronically now. So you don't need to wait 2 weeks. You can maybe wait 1-2 days after printing out your I-94 to take it to the SSO, along with the passport, birth certificate, and filled out SS-5 form.

I think one bottleneck that many K1-to-AOS don't realize is the time to receive the marriage certificate (not marriage license). Depending on which state or municipality, the marriage certificate can take 30 days or more to receive. We avoided the wait by going to Las Vegas for the wedding where we got the marriage certificate the same day as the wedding. Also, you can start collecting the documents for the I-864 like the last 3 years of tax transcripts, payslips, etc., A couple of other fairly important steps to plan for the K1 beneficiary is opening a US bank account and getting the state Real ID or driver's license, which rely on the SSN and marriage certificate (for name change). But as a rule of thumb for the super-prepared, if you can file the I-485 within a month after US entry, then you are balling. You can see the step-by-step of what we did at our Timeline or Profile. https://www.visajourney.com/profile/386517-eatbulag

Greetings Everyone, My wife is a K1-to-AOS conditional green card holder. For the situation where the green card expires 02/01/2025 and resident since 02/01/2023, she plans to travel outside the country for say 4 months (less than the 6 months needed to reapply for entry). Will the 4 months outside the country affect the ROC approval? Or the resident since date? Or the date calculation for filing N400 (either 3-year or 5-year)? Thanks in advance for any response.

Hello Everyone, Has anyone ever had negative experience traveling to the Philippines and back to the US with Eva Air in terms of all the various US entry documents like boarding foil, expired green card with Removal Of Condition letter, etc. Are Eva Air gate agents well-versed with the US travel documents? Thanks in advance.