ghostinthemachine

I agree with the above. Go to wherever your biometrics were scheduled with your letter and whatever IDs you need to get into the building asap.

Explain the situation calmly and if necessary plead a bit so they will let you do a walk-in after the fact. It wouldn't even surprise me if they will have seen this same exact situation before either. Hopefully you'll deal with someone with a good amount of empathy and that's sorted. If not, you can at least say you tried and keep badgering USCIS for a rescheduled appt.

Similar experience to the above. I was able to obtain an ID without SSN by bringing marriage cert, foreign passport and foreign DL. They can assign you a FIN in the meantime.

They also gave me the whole spiel of 3 month validity max up to a total of 9 months (3 IDs total). After that they wouldn't have been able to issue me one without social according to them. Luckily I received my SSN a couple weeks before the last renewal ran out so I never got to see what *actually* happens beyond the 9 months. 

I've also heard many stories of people being able to get full validity IDs right away. Guess it depends on how clued in the various offices and/or individuals are on the rules.

Geht mir aehnlich mit dem Meer, allerdings in Hawaii 😆. Mir graut es jetzt schon vor dem Umzug naechstes Jahr... absolutes Privileg das hier als zumindest temporaere Heimat zu haben

What's Addendum I and II to Form I-751? First I'm seeing this 👀

46 minutes ago, Verrou said:

it doesnt matter though. the issue right now u cant get DL, correct ? all u can do is ask DMV person to escalate to USCIS Save check. 

even though u got unrestricted SSN, that DMV only refer to 1 thing, which is save check. in my experience, the DMV actually done the save check faster than SSA office. ( i did both in the span of 3 weeks gap)

Hmm perhaps I'm misunderstanding how this works then. DMV says they cannot escalate as SAVE immediately pops up as "Returned to Agency" with the outdated info. They ran three CaseChecks on me yesterday at two different locations, all immediately returned to them. Were yours also returned immediately, but were still somehow "pending" in the background without your knowledge?

9 minutes ago, Verrou said:

please read this : 

 

it's not your fault, nothing u can do ( believed me i tried everything) beside waiting till save check verified. the problem is DHS aka USCIS didnt update your GC record. it happened from time to time even for people who received their conditional GC 8 months ago. 

Hi @Verrou - sorry to hear you also had a whole lot of hassle to deal with based on that thread.

I think my case actually is a little different though. I received my cGC 04/2022, "upgraded" (lol) my social to an unrestricted one 01/2023 here in Hawaii with zero issues.

Assuming the SSA had no issues verifying my info based on how painless getting the updated social was... how come the DMV can't do it 10 months down the line. It makes no sense to me. I'm genuinely losing my mind here 😩 

30 minutes ago, randomstairs said:

Did you apply for a new DL with your GC (with the new expiration date on it)? That's how the process is initiated in CA. My experience with DMVs in three states so far is that they can't handle anything more complicated than a renewal of a DL. For example, if you tried to request that they extend the validity or something like that, that would probably confuse them. I suggest you try a different DMV and keep it super simple, as in "I'd like to renew my DL. Here's my GC."

 

I had a similar issue in another state when I wanted to get a new license with the H1B approval form. It took 2 hours, with my cab driver patiently waiting outside (I couldn't drive). It turned out they just needed the I-94 portion of the form, whereas I submitted the whole thing. They usually get utterly confused. 

I only handed over my DL that I'm trying to renew and my current GC. They had no idea what to do or how to help me. I've spent the entire day on the phone to whichever numbers I can find only for people to either tell me that my immigration records on the USCIS side are accurate or that there is nothing they can do to help me.

Also didn't mention this above (cos the post was already long <deleted>), but I've been to two different DMVs in my area this morning. Both gave me the same runaround. What an absolute nightmare. I genuinely don't know what to do.

Hi there,

I'm hoping someone here will have dealt with the same...

To give some background:

- Received EAD mid-February 2022 with an expiration date of 02/15/2024

- Applied for a Hawaiian driver's licence in March 2022 after as I was approaching a full year in the US at that point and I wouldn't have been able to legally drive on my German licence for much longer (HI gives you a year essentially) - expiration date of limited-term licence is therefore the expiration of my EAD 02/15/2024

- Received conditional GC mid-April 2022 with an expiration date of 04/18/2024

So to summarise, I'm a Hawaii resident & conditional LPR. HI allows you to renew your DL 6 months prior to expiration. As we will be moving states literally the week after my DL is set to expire in February 2024 I wanted to get ahead of this to ensure there will be no lapse in validity (so I can do an out of state transfer at our new location eventually).

This morning the HI DMV turned me away because whenever they run the Save Check (or whatever it is called on the DMV side of things) it only pulls up the expiration date of my EAD (02/15/2023). Nothing about the April expiry of my conditional GC according to them. They told me to contact USCIS/DHS to get my info corrected and to get lost essentially.

Went back to the car and spent almost two hours on the phone to USCIS (who confirmed my info is all correct on their end based on my A number) and gave me another number of someone dealing with SAVE/e-Verify to follow up. This next guy told me it's on the requesting agency (HI DMV) to initiate a 2nd level verification and that there is nothing that I can do as a person to fix this. 

Went back to the DMV and told them what both USCIS and the SAVE/e-Verify guy had told me. Even got the supervisor involved, who ended up on the phone to someone for a good 20 minutes trying to figure this out, but in the end we were just going around in circles. On the Save Check website I can see that the case was immediately returned to the DMV here so supposedly they cannot initiate a 2nd level verification of my info. They told me I need to fix this. The people on the phone specifically told me I CANNOT fix this myself. 

So here I am. Lost, confused and frankly kinda annoyed. How can I get in touch with someone who can help me figure out what's wrong with my records and help me fix it?! Has anyone of you ever dealt with this by any chance?

Hi there,

Still have a few months until my 90-day period opens up to file for ROC, however, we're also due to move states in this timeframe and I'm honestly not sure what the best way of handling this would be.

For reference, this is the situation we're looking at currently:

90-day period opens: 1/18/2024
Most likely physically moving at some point between: 2/15 - 2/28/2024

GC expiration: 4/17/2024

We'll be in a hotel for at least a few weeks upon arrival with no set address so it'll definitely take a while to have everything switched over as we need to find a new place to live first of course. Probably unlikely for us to have a house secured before mid-March, so most billing cycles and statements and whatnot wouldn't show our new address until at some point in April, possibly after GC expiration even. Delaying or moving up the relocation date isn't an option either.

I'd assume filing everything from where we're currently at would be easier as all addresses are in order and connected, however, I'm concerned that I'll essentially have less than a month between potentially filing and us moving away. What if there's a delay and some USCIS comms, especially the extension letter, might just get lost in the mail in the end? I'm 🌟stressed🌟 just thinking about this - idk if this is warranted of if I'm perhaps just overthinking it?

If anyone of you has been in a similar situation, would you mind sharing any relevant personal experiences please?

Preconceived intent to use a non-immigrant visa or visa waiver (= ESTA) to obtain immigration benefits is considered fraud last I checked

I got GE last year and I'm only a conditional GC holder currently. They don't care. Just took forever to get approval for me personally, but that seems to be the norm for a lot of people, (including some unlucky citizens) anyway.

On 4/12/2023 at 4:20 AM, mam521 said:

It's a pick your battle, really.  In Texas, your DL is typically issued for 8 years or the validity of your documents (visa or PR).  If you had a 2yr greencard and received an extension, you're going to have to go and take the extension letter to DPS, possibly get an agent who has no idea, just like HR or the SSA, get them to issue a new license but before they will, they are likely going to send for a SAVE verification which can take a couple of weeks.  It's also going to cost you money every time you need to update that license.  Anyone who lives in the Houston area can probably attest that dealing with DPS can be a real pain and rather demeaning experience.  When I was on my work visa, I was stuck in this loop and without a license for 2 weeks, waiting on the SAVE verification.  No license in a place with no public transit is a REAL headache.  Thankfully, I had a ride to get me to work!

 

Slightly OT, but how does this work in Texas - if you're conditional GC is expiring and you've been sent the automatic extension waiting for the ROC to process... do they typically only give you the two years on your new DL (assuming a 24 month extension letter)? Moving next year and trying to plan my moves carefully as this all seems to be a bit old hassle.

-----

Fwiw, I went to get the restrictions removed on my social just earlier this year after procrastinating a bit and the worst part was showing up an hour before opening times to be within reach of first in line lol. Received my updated social within about a week following my visit.

I got my GE approved back in October. I'm a conditional GC holder and have a somewhat spicy travel history. Apart from the fact that getting conditional approval for GE took almost 6 months and finding a timely interview resulted in my first grey hair it was a complete non-event.

23 hours ago, daniel046 said:

So, Would following evidence be good enough?

Lease from apartment from Jan 2020 till now we got married 6 month after and renters insurance,

Bank statements from Aug 2020 till now, joint tax return of 2 years but I did not have any income. Credit card statements for almost 1.5 years, electricity bill under both of our names, photos with different family, Does not have photos of wedding as it was done during corona lock down at courthouse, Affidavit from family members and friend.

Other things we sent that I can think of on top of my head:

- Showing each other as beneficiaries of life insurance policies, pension accounts, emergency contacts at work 

- Any evidence of travels together - boarding passes, hotel bookings etc. If you travelled lots during said time I'd also include a brief timeline 

- Any letters/holiday/birthday cards addressed to you both or given to each other including the postmarked envelope if you still have it

- Receipts of wedding expenses and any significant gifts between you both 

- Any bills you share that have both names on them - we did electricity and Verizon iirc

- Select few screenshots of online comms you keep up as part of your day to day life from Whatsapp or w/e you use to communicate when you're not physically together

We didn't have any shared bank accounts or taxes at the time nor any affidavits. Our original submission was as thorough as it could've been at the time including the above and we got approved without a formal sit-down interview. 

Genuinely thought I misread this late last night when I first saw it. It seems to be entirely disproportionate in comparison to the other changes and the hours they listed in the analysis portion. Guess anyone waiting to file the I-751 later in the year will most likely just be f'd then. Classic USCIS.

They will want to see a progression of your relationship. Definitely include pictures and stuff like boarding passes and hotel bookings from your trips together. My husband and I travelled a lot together very early on in our relationship and we wrote up a one pager timeline of our time spent together during that period which corresponded to the travel docs/evidence in exact order

I just got mine approved recently (only took almost 6 months) and have had no issues with GC/GE in married name and passport in maiden name. At the GE kiosk where you need to scan something you need to scan your GC and not your passport (as instructed by the people working the GE desk).

On 9/17/2022 at 4:27 PM, top_secret said:

 

My wife took 6 1/2 months to be conditionally approved.  Step daughter took two days.  Anecdotally, based on ours and a few other recent cases I am aware of, it seems folks randomly fall into either the two day or else the 6 1/2 month group.  Not many recent examples falling anywhere in between those extremes that I have identified anyways.

 

My wife's conditional approval did come on the eve of a flight back to the US so there could be a connection there.  I wouldn't get your hopes up but if you are flying back tomorrow, make one last check of your status before you go.

Crazy how long this all takes. I honestly thought that if they've recently run all sorts of background checks for immigration purposes it might not take forever, but clearly not lmao. No change to my status either after coming back to the US now... and so they wait continues 

On 9/16/2022 at 10:02 PM, Jish&Abt said:

I actually applied for GE and mine was pretty straight forward since i am a US citizen, when i tried to apply for my wife, i got an error saying "The name or date of birth entered on your U.S. Passport or Permanent Resident Card, does not match the Profile on this account." Her Indian passport has her maiden name and GC has my last name. I dont know whats the work around for it. I havent tried TSA Precheck yet, not sure if she will get the same error for it.

You need to apply for GE using the name as per the GC, which I assume is her married name. If you use her maiden name as per the passport it won't work. I went through the same. Had to go back, change the name of the account and then continue adding documents. You will have to input both the GC and the passport data anyway as well as then fill out the line that asks for any other names she's known as (her maiden name, in this case).

In other news, my GE app has been pending for five months now with no movement. 's ridiculous. Flying back home to the US tomorrow and I'm already dreading the lines at SFO 😭 

On 9/5/2022 at 3:47 PM, Tinkerbell307 said:

4. my fiancé was married before and has been legally divorced for 1 1/2 years now. His ex wife was from

germany too and he unter went the same procedure 7 years ago already. Will that be a red flag or give us any problems? We won’t have any problems proving that our marriage is bonafide as we really love each other and had been in a relationship for months now. I guess my fiancé just likes Germans 😃😃 lol.

I think the other questions were already answered, but for this one I can actually add some personal experience. My husband previously sponsored his ex-wife (who is now a citizen) and whilst they were broken up for a couple of years, the divorce only became final like three months before we decided to elope. No one has ever questioned anything or the timelines (as there is a fair amount of overlap of him still being legally married to someone else whilst we were already dating). If your current relationship is legit and you have ways of proving it (meaning the usual evidence that everyone sends in for AOS purposes) I absolutely wouldn't worry. Just make sure you include proper copies of his divorce decree where necessary of course.

22 hours ago, top_secret said:

My wife applied for GE back on Feb 15 and still no update.   So, 5 1/2 months so far and still counting. We are wondering if they will hold it against her for being refused entry to Mexico before, even though there was no kind of violation of any kind of law or rule or even any allegation of it in that incident.  I'm sure DHS is aware of it.  We'll see.

 

She's headed back to the Philippines next week for a short visit so probably not much help on that trip. 

Is your wife the GC holder?

I'd be so curious to see what parameters they use to inform their decisions too though. I'm about to fly out in a couple of weeks as well returning in September so hopefully maybe there will have been an update in the meantime... I'm guessing it doesn't help that I have a bunch of potentially spicy countries on my visitor list. 😅

On 7/1/2022 at 9:46 AM, Chancy said:

 

So lucky!  My USC husband and I (LPR) applied around a month ago, but still no update.

 

I (LPR) applied in April and still haven't heard anything 😑 this is giving me USCIS vibes all over again

You're good as your husband is a USC. I went through the same with my husband last year/this year. Just have a read of the guides on VJ as well as the USCIS guidance for each petition and then file the 485/130 (and also 131/765 for work and potential out of the country travel in case the GC takes forever). It's really not too difficult overall as long as you follow the above.

We got married a few days before my I-94 expired and then filed for everything about 6 weeks later. No lawyer, just meticulously organised everything ourselves. The forum here and also some fb groups and/or reddit are really useful resources in case you do run into any issues - most questions have honestly been answered over and over so you'd be able to search for it, unless you situation is something incredibly specific.

Good luck & congrats on your marriage!

7 minutes ago, lovinglive said:

And the reason that you wish you'd done it that way is just because of all the stress and fear of being randomly stopped?

Yeah, it just added an extra layer of stress to something that's already kinda stressful in itself. 

It all worked out OK for us in the end, but if I could go back and get a do over I would absolutely try to get married a little earlier and file before expiry for peace of mind. 

We only filed around 6 weeks after my I-94 "expired". We only just got married a few days before the expiration date with about a couple of weeks planning ahead so just didn't have enough time to gather all the docs, especially from my husband's work. 

Specifically didn't travel anywhere during this time as we were super paranoid that we'd randomly be stopped as it just so happens sometimes... if you can avoid to travel, whether it's by air or car, I absolutely would for peace of mind. I definitely would steer clear of any foreign or state borders too, depending on where you live. 

If you still have time now I'd suggest gathering all the AOS docs you can now, schedule a quick civil wedding somewhere or have someone just officiate one in their office if that's an option for you and file before the I-94 is too far gone. Wish we would've done it that way last year.