book_keeper

Hello All,

Anybody knowing any sites or any good ticket agents to buy air line tickets for upcoming vist to India..

From Chicago to Mumbai and later connecting to Ahmedabad...

Early august or in mid august...

Thanks..

Bani

Don't forget to check fares directly at airlines' website. I recently found best fares for S'pore and Cathy Pacific directly on their respective websites. Those fares did not appear in any of the major online sites such as kayak.com, sidestep.com or makemytrip.com.

Regards,

-M

If a person on L1 (currently in USA) marries a US citizen, how long before the person can quit her job? The reason I am asking is that the person on L1 and USC are in different cities. After the marriage, the person on L1 would like to quit her job and would like to move to the place where USC lives.

Any input is appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi All,

I hope someone can answer my questions.

1) Do you get the naturalization certificate right after the oath ceremony or afterwards in mail? I would like to move out of my current place right after the oath ceremony.

2) Is oath ceremony truly end of naturalization process or is there something else left after that? Once again related to moving out.

3) Do they require address proof when you apply for passport? I would be applying for passport from one place (LA) and would like to receive it at another place (San Jose). So my address will be the new address on the passport application for which I won't have any proof.

Thanks for your help.

-MH

>>>

And please wish us luck that my wife get thru rest of the Visa process early and smoothly....:-)

<<<

Vish, this is by default on VJ community:) All the very best!!

Thanks for your reply, Vish.

Did you provide any other evidence to prove your long term residence. The US Embassy website asks for additional evidence as below. Since I will be staying with my parents and do not plan to take up a job, I was wondering if you have any suggestions for other forms of evidence.

>>>

Evidence of Residence

Proof of such residency will include a U.S. passport with an appropriate long-term, valid Indian visa and a Registration Report and Residential Permit issued by the Foreigner’s Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the Government of India. Additional evidence should include, but is not limited to, on-going employment in India, taxes paid in India, rent/property receipts, and utility receipts in India.

<<<

Thanks!

Thank you very much for sharing this information.

If possible, can you please elaborate how did you or your agent go about doing the following you say?

>>>

Now to prove my residency I had to change my 10 year Visitor's visa to 5 yesar "Entry" Visa on which then I can get the Residency stamp which will allow me to stay for more than six months in India. This process was done by my agent thru FRRO (I think).

<<<

Many thanks!

Hi All,

I went to India in mid Nov and came back in 1st week of February in that time, I've got married to a beautiful girl and was able to file I-130 in New Delhi. By the way is this process called DCF?? Anyway so when I was in India I had so much confusion regarding the rules and regulations for filing from New Delhi that I thought I should post this so that it might be helpful to others. Here goes my story:

I went to India on 10 years visitor's visa. I got married in the third week of december, and soon after I started to explore my options regarding how to file for my wife. I hired an agent who helped us prepare the I-130. I asked him about New Delhi and he said that it's been about an year may be more since last he had sent a couple to New Delhi to file it. And since than the rules has changed and it requires at least about 6 months of stay for the US citizen to prove the residency of India. Being and IT Professional I decided to do some research online. And I thought the first place to look for the information was the website for US Embassy in New Delhi. I read thru the requirements and nowhere, I meant nowhere it mentions that US Citizen has to stay for atleast 6 months or even a 3 months to prove the residency, and that bring up my hope. I showed that to my agent and he suggested that if I was willing to spend money and travel to New Delhi than it's worth shot. BTW I am originally from Surat, Gujarat.

Now to prove my residency I had to change my 10 year Visitor's visa to 5 yesar "Entry" Visa on which then I can get the Residency stamp which will allow me to stay for more than six months in India. This process was done by my agent thru FRRO (I think). He said, with this we'll be able to prove our residency. We finished our I-130 paper work and in 3rd week of Jan 08, My wife and I went to US Embassy in New Delhi.

We took the train at 9pm in Surat and reached Delhi next morning. We went to the hotel stayed for the day and tried so hard to relax, because thought of rejection was still in the back of our mind. At that time I was in India for only about two months and few days. The only hope was that the US Embassy's New Delhi web site doesn't mention the 90 days or 180 days requirement anywhere. I also took the print copy of the Residency requirements also as an back up just if they mention about 90 days requirement.

Next day morning, we reached the Embassy at around 10 am. We went to the guard and I told him why were there and showed my US passport. He told us to enter their office (I forgot the name of the office). Anyway we went thru the security and then were taken along a walkway towards as seemed to be the back of the building. We entered one door. There was a security guard as well, he took us to another door inside where we were told to sit. There was only one other couple as well who was there to apply for I-130 I think, though I didn't ask. We waited for about 30 minutes. In a meanwhile I show couple of papers stating the residency requirement on the wall in that waiting area. One of them was exactly same as the one that I printed from online. Another one was also similar but it mentioned that "The Indian residency is usually not proven unless the person has stayed in India for at least 90 days". Even though there was a word "usually" in that sentence, I got really worried about my chances. But since my wife was there as well I acted cool, you know how Men's ego work.

After about 30 minutes, a lady came and asked other coupe to go with her in the room inside. In about 15 minutes they came out and left. They seemed happy so I think they were successful in their purpose. Then were asked to go inside the other room. It was the same lady. She was very polite. Once in her office, she asked for all the required documents. She asked couple of basic questions like when was our wedding, how many people attended it. etc. Then she asked me since how long I was in India, and for a moment I was silent. My worst fear seemed to be becoming true. Then something happened, I told her about more than 2 months. She looked at me, and asked me more than 2 months or less than 3 months. I thought uh oh...this is not good. so I said very politely, and I quote, "hmm...I think more than 2 months but less than 3 months". Then she asked me the date on which I entered India and counted the exact days, the number came out to be about 65/66 days. Then without any expression she asked me where we came from, and I told her that we came from Surat, Gujarat. She asked me how? and I said we took overnight train from Surat and took us about 12-13 hours to get to Delhi. And then she asked us to keep the wedding photos ready, and stepped outside as someone was calling for her. She came back, marked all the details regarding our location, name, etc... with red pen on I-130, probably just making sure that everything was filled correctly.

Then she told us that we need to pay the fee outside at the cashier's window, once she'll get the proof of the payment, the application will be approved and move to Mumbai consulate. I remain calmed even though I knew that our trip to Delhi was a success, from inside I felt like dancing. She then gave us package 3.5, and told us that the earlier we send this forms to VFS office the earlier she's get the interview date. and then We were escorted back to the cashier where we paid the fees and then we got out of the Embassy. We were just excited and thrilled with enjoyment with our success. But I still had confusion regarding package 3.5 cause according to our agent, were not supposed to get anything but the receipt of our payment from the Embassy.

Once back to Surat, I asked my agent regarding 3.5 and he had no idea. But luckily two days later I had to go to Ahmedabad to attend my friend's wedding, so I've decided to goto VFS office in Ahmedabad and ask them about it. Staff at VFS office were very polite as well, and the lady working their told us that package 3.5 was the old process and I should be getting the package from Mumbai Consulate instead. And I think that lady was right because my wife received the package from Mumbai Consulate which contained everything that was in package 3.5 and additional letter which had our case number on it. My agent called this form DSL forms for some reason, I don't know. Does this mean that I successfully filed I-130 from New Delhi??

Anyway, My wife filled out a form from this package and sent it to Mumbai Consulate. Does anyone know what are the next steps? Will she now get the interview date or is there any other process that she'll have to get thru?

I think New Delhi was just the first step towards her getting the VISA to US. I hope that the rest of the process go smoothly as well.

I posted this thread because I think, there's so much confusion regarding filing I-130 from New Delhi, and I thought this post might be helpful.

Just waned to provide an update.

Passed my interview today at Los Angeles. It was a breeze. IO told oath letter will be mailed in next few weeks. She said I may be scheduled for 3/20 Oath ceremony.

Thanks for the help from this forum.

=========================================================

Update 10/26

Took INFOPASS appointment and visited LA USCIS office.

I was told that my application is "under review" and may have to wait for additional 180 days. The USCIS official won't give another information than repeating 'you will have to wait.'

At least she confirmed that background check is cleared.

I am hoping I don't have to wait that long.

Does anyone else get such 'under review' response? How did it go for you?

Thanks!

Hello,

Does USCIS update the system after it mails the interview letter for N400 application?

I returned from a vacation and suspect that some mail is missing from the post office where my mail was being held. So, concerned if my interview letter was lost.

I do not see any update on USCIS web site. So, trying to find out if there is way to know if interview letter was mailed.

Thank you for your help.

-MH

---------------------------

N400 CSC

RD: 4/30

ND: 5/9

FP: 6/22

Hello All,

I will become a US Citizen in next few months. I plan to get married after that. After applying I-130 for my spouse, I would like to leave US for 6-9 months to be with my spouse in India. Question is - can I apply for my spouse's I-130 and leave for India? I plan to give my brother's US address as my address in the US. That way no correspondence will be lost. After my spouse gets IR/CR, we plan to return to the US. Do you see any issues with this approach?

Is it possible to covert IR-1/CR-1 to DCF in the middle? Since I am going to stay in India for 6-9 months, I may become eligible for DCF. If it is going to be faster, I would like to consider that. Since eligibility for DCF is uncertain, I thought of applying for IR-1/CR-1 just to be on the safe side.

Thanks in advance for any help / information from the forum members.

-MH

Update 10/26

Took INFOPASS appointment and visited LA USCIS office.

I was told that my application is "under review" and may have to wait for additional 180 days. The USCIS official won't give another information than repeating 'you will have to wait.'

At least she confirmed that background check is cleared.

I am hoping I don't have to wait that long.

Does anyone else get such 'under review' response? How did it go for you?

Thanks!

Hello,

Does USCIS update the system after it mails the interview letter for N400 application?

I returned from a vacation and suspect that some mail is missing from the post office where my mail was being held. So, concerned if my interview letter was lost.

I do not see any update on USCIS web site. So, trying to find out if there is way to know if interview letter was mailed.

Thank you for your help.

-MH

---------------------------

N400 CSC

RD: 4/30

ND: 5/9

FP: 6/22

Hello,

Does USCIS update the system after it mails the interview letter for N400 application?

I returned from a vacation and suspect that some mail is missing from the post office where my mail was being held. So, concerned if my interview letter was lost.

I do not see any update on USCIS web site. So, trying to find out if there is way to know if interview letter was mailed.

Thank you for your help.

-MH

---------------------------

N400 CSC

RD: 4/30

ND: 5/9

FP: 6/22

Hello,

My N-400 details are as below.

CSC

RD: 5/9

FP: 6/22

I have not heard anything yet after FP. After seeing some people with RDs later than mine getting IL and interviews (http://www.***removed***/tracker/citizenship-tracker.do), I am concerned if my application is stuck somewhere.

If you also applied in May, please post details so that we can track.

I believe customer service 1-800 number does not provide status updates. Is there any other way to check status? Is it too early for INFOPASS.

Thanks for your feedback.

-MH