Vickys_Mom

You can declare the $2,000 as Other Income and pay taxes on it, assuming there are any. Note that it's not Other Earned Income, but the Other Income that appears on Schedule 1. I think $33,000 is still too close to $31,075 so you should still find a joint sponsor. Regards, Vicky's Mom

I couldn't find any parking instructions on the Consulate's web site, but another tenant in the building indicated there's a three-story parking garage right next to it. https://norriscenters.com/houston-westchase-map/ What it will cost, I do not know. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Choose the High school diploma, GED, or alternative credential. It's typically 12 years to finish high school in the U.S. The intent of the form is to determine your highest education level. If you tell them "Grades 1 through 11", they will be confused and think you did not graduate high school. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Everyone goes through Administrative Processing. I would think that them keeping your passport is a good sign. If they plan to reject your petition outright they wouldn't have held onto the passport. You must be patient. Administrative Processing can take days, weeks, months, or even years. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Under "A valid, unexpired Record of Arrival and Departure in a valid foreign passport (I-94 or I-94A)", it says "If the I-94 or I-94A is stamped “Refugee” an I-797 may be required. If you have a current I-797 for any I-94 status, you may want to show this to help simplify the process." https://dmv.nebraska.gov/sites/dmv.nebraska.gov/files/doc/dls/verificationdocs.pdf It doesn't say "shall" be required. It say "may" be required. My mother-in-law didn't have a printed I-94, but I can look up her entry and exit from the United States using the online system. You might do that, print the output, and take it with you. I'd take as much paperwork as you can. My experience with the State of Nebraska has been that immigration paperwork confuses them. Regards, Vicky's Mom

My mother-in-law did her IR-5 interview last year in Indonesia. She brought a photocopy of my wife's Indonesian birth certificate, a photocopy of my wife's U.S. naturalization certificate, and a photocopy of the picture page of my wife's U.S. passport. She did not have the originals since they were with us here in the United States. She had no issues with needing those originals. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Unless something in the Embassy documentation says otherwise, they will accept documents in English and whatever the official language is...in your case, Greek. And your birth certificate translation hasn't expired in a year. It's still good. Regards, Vicky's Mom

I'd bring printed copies of anything you submitted electronically. You won't be happy if you get to your interview, they can't find something you submitted, and you didn't bring the printed copy. Regards, Vicky's Mom

The IRS doesn't require the individual income tax returns for 2023 to be filed until (at the earliest) April 15th, 2024...several weeks after your N-400 appointment. Feel free to bring anything you want to provide for the 2023 tax year. If you have already done your taxes, bring copies of your return and supporting documents (W-2, 1099, etc.). If they ask about your 2023 return and you haven't done it yet, you can assure them that you plan to file on schedule. You can certainly look and see if the 2023 transcript is available, but do not count on it. (No one knows the IRS' schedule for such things.) You don't "order" a tax transcript. Once you've logged into the IRS web site, if a given year's transcript is available, you can click on it and download it immediately. For a data point, I filed our federal return earlier this week. The only 2023 transcript currently available to me on the IRS website is the Wage & Income Transcript. If I create it, it says "No return of record filed." It's too soon. Take 2018-2022 with you. You got this. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Appears to be Mumbai based on past postings. Regards, Vicky's Mom

As you already noted, on the paper form it says > If you answer "Yes" to any of these questions, include a typed or printed explanation on additional sheets of paper. That's not optional. So, yes. Based on what you've said, you should write an explanation and upload it as additional evidence. Regards, Vicky's Mom

My mother-in-law did her interview in Jakarta late last year. They did not *keep* her passport at the time of the interview. They wanted to do administrative processing first. When they were ready to issue her visa, they had us send them the passport through the courier service. The courier service included a "bill of lading" that specified what documents were being provided. The first thing was her passport. She had a copy of the courier document that showed where her passport was until she got it back with the visa in it. @Saihtiam why could you not use your Kartu Tanda Penduduk (KTP) for identification purposes while the embassy has your passport? Regards, Vicky's Mom

"You may assume that we have received as such you will not receive the same email once your petition arrives." There's a flaw in the English, editing perhaps, but otherwise...you won't get another email, this is the one you will get, you should take this as "...after you have received instructions via letter or email from the Immigrant Visa unit to do so." and continue to make the appointment. If I was the IV officer, I wouldn't have sent you that until your petition was in the office in Jo-Berg. But it is what it is. The beneficiary should absolutely print out the email from the IV and bring it with them. If your petition gets hung up somewhere along the way, the beneficiary shows up for an appointment and the interviewing officer says "you shouldn't have come before your petition arrives", the beneficiary shows them the email and say "you guys told us to do so". Hopefully it all goes smoothly, but expect delays, errors, and "oopsies" in this entire process. Regards, Vicky's Mom

As already noted the SS-5 doesn't have a marriage question on it at this time. DO NOT misstate/lie about your current marital status to any government official. (You don't have to volunteer everything you know, but if someone asks you a straight question give them an honest answer.) If the Social Security office asks if you are married, tell them you are. She doesn't have to put her married name on that card even if she is married. "We'd rather she have her maiden name on her Social Security card so that it matches the name on her passport." A misstatement in this case is such a small thing, and it will probably never come up later in your effort with USCIS. But if it does it destroys years of work, thousands of dollars, and potentially your relationship. Regards, Vicky's Mom

When she enters the United States, the Customs and Border Patrol person should ask her for her permanent address in the United States. If not, she should volunteer it. (Type it out on a piece of paper so you can just hand it to them.) They will update the online files with the address and that's where the card will be sent. And don't forget to pay the $220 fee. The card won't be sent until you do. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Which one appears on the birth certificate? Use that one. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Yes. DO NOT send originals through the mail. Send copies, and bring the originals to the interview. Regards, Vicky's Mom

They need that yellow package. The permanent I-551 (green card) has two requirements: payment of the $220 fee, and entry into the United States. You have the stamp so you have entered, but you also had the yellow envelope. Because you didn't turn in the yellow envelope, the system doesn't know that you've entered the United States. Since one of the two requirements haven't been completed, it won't issue you a card. The officer who put the stamp in your passport at the port of entry should have taken the envelope. He made a mistake. Follow @milimelo's advice above about doing a deferred inspection. They'll take the yellow envelope and "process" it, which will tell the computer that you have entered the United States. It'll trigger the request for the green card. (By comparison, my mother-in-law's visa didn't have a yellow envelope. Her information was transmitted electronically, and when her visa was scanned at the port of entry the system noticed she had entered. I'd already paid the fee, so it triggered the request.) As already mentioned, the stamp in your passport grants a 12-month stay. Not six months. Having said that, go and do the deferred inspection as soon as you can. Regards, Vicky's Mom

And no, an RFE is not a "doomed" indication. It means exactly what it says. They want to see more information of a bona-fide marriage. Be aware that you won't get a second RFE. If you do not satisfy the requirement of the RFE, they may reject your application and you have to start over again. Review the list of possible evidence. Submit as much of it as you can. Pay attention to the deadline. (I've gotten at least two RFEs since I've been dealing with USCIS. All have been resolved and the beneficiaries received their green cards.) Regards, Vicky's Mom

One data point: my mother-in-law's application was received 08 Oct 21 and approved 02 Nov 22...just under 13 months. Regards, Vicky's Mom

You can bring *anything you want* to the interview. They will be more interested in your fiancé's pay stubs since he's the sponsor. Don't forget to bring the originals of anything you sent copies of with your applications. Birth certificates, wedding licenses, passports, etc. The one IO I interacted with together during the AoS interview (years ago) spent most of her time looking at our wedding photos and pictures of trips we'd taken together. Regards, Vicky's Mom

The DMV person didn't know what was required. You know more than she does. I have a letter from a state agency who reviewed my mother-in-law's IR-5 visa stamp in the passport. They rejected it and said "this is expired". It's not...she entered the country six weeks ago. (It's valid for 12 months.) So I could have called, tried to find the person, and "educated" them. Maybe they would have been happy to have the explanation and learn something. Maybe they would have reacted badly. Since I knew her I-551 (the physical green card) was on the way, I just waited until it got here and sent a copy of it instead. I didn't try to explain anything...just submitted the document. You can certainly try again, but they know what the physical green card looks like and how to read it. I'd wait if you can. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Much of this will be a part of the divorce decree. You should have a divorce attorney NOW. Decisions will start being made and your attorney protects you (as well as your children). Disposition of debt incurred during the marriage is one of the things negotiated in the divorce settlement...like custody of the children and visitation rights which you need to be concerned about also. It would be wonderful if you found a divorce attorney who also understood things like the Affidavit of Support. Those are rare and (I suspect) more expensive. But that's a secondary issue to getting things set up to protect yourself while the pre-divorce activities occur. There's nothing that says you two can't work all of this out later and stay married. But once one of you starts throwing that D-word around you have to find an attorney to protect you. Regards, Vicky's Mom

U.S. Customs and Border Protection won't care. If they ask why you have a return ticket tell them it was cheaper that way. If you do it to the same airline, multiple times, and they keep track of it, they may eventually tell you to take your business elsewhere. Regards, Vicky's Mom

I've done an AOS from a student visa (thru naturalization) and an IR-5. I don't remember ever being sent a checklist from USCIS, at any point during the process. That's why you use places like VJ...people here have created guides and checklists you can use. Advice: never, ever, ever expect that USCIS is going to help you with this process. You're going to do all of it yourself. Regards, Vicky's Mom