snewbery

Since my wife just went through this I will post our experience.
 
1. to move quickly after US entry we applied for a Marriage License in Colorado before going to the Social Security office. The County required her to sign an affidavit stating that she did not have a SSN at the time we applied for the license.
 
2. We went to the Social Security office with all the required documents (her Argentine passport with K1 Visa and POE stamp, I-94 form and just in case, her I-797 form from the I-129F submission). All was OK and they approved the SSN request using her maiden name.
 
3. We got married, submitted the completed marriage license and waited for the recorded Marriage Certificate to come back in the mail.
 
4. We went back to the Social Security office with the Marriage Certificate and requested her name change due to marriage. No problem at all and we got the updated SS card in the mail days later. That was the first official name change document.
 
5. I completed and submitted the I-485, I-864 and I-131 using her new married name which should result in an AP and green card in her new name.
 

Since my wife just went through this I will post our experience.
 
1. to move quickly after US entry we applied for a Marriage License in Colorado before going to the Social Security office. The County required her to sign an affidavit stating that she did not have a SSN at the time we applied for the license.
 
2. We went to the Social Security office with all the required documents (her Argentine passport with K1 Visa and POE stamp, I-94 form and just in case, her I-797 form from the I-129F submission). All was OK and they approved the SSN request using her maiden name.
 
3. We got married, submitted the completed marriage license and waited for the recorded Marriage Certificate to come back in the mail.
 
4. We went back to the Social Security office with the Marriage Certificate and requested her name change due to marriage. No problem at all and we got the updated SS card in the mail days later. That was the first official name change document.
 
5. I completed and submitted the I-485, I-864 and I-131 using her new married name which should result in an AP and green card in her new name.
 

Good question! I saw in the I-485 where we could request a SSC but opted to go to Social Security directly since we thought that would move faster and we would have the new card in hand sooner. If you already requested yours through the I-485 it will probably be best to wait for them to process your submission. I hope this helps!

Social security number is never compulsory.  You should escalate this with HR, or with trying insurance company directly, if the employer isn't responsive.

Why "could" or "last resort"? USCIS just cares that the visa beneficiary is no longer married and hence able to marry the petitioner. In form 129-F, the instructions clearly say to provide a divorce decree OR death certificate. If the first (or any) ex-spouse is deceased, then clearly the beneficiary is legally able to re-marry. I am also assuming in this case there is a divorce decree available for the second marriage.

If I got this straight, this is the marriage for which you do not have a divorce decree? If she passed away, a death certificate will fulfill the USCIS requirement. The point is to prove you are no longer married to this person and obviously a widow or widower is no longer married. 

This issue with the original/scanned/wet signature/photocopy/etc version of I-134 is a constant thing here on VJ.
 
My final position is: check with your embassy. They should accept a legible photocopy of the original wet signature form as per form rules. Also hard to differentiate a legible, clean scan of the original one and the original in black ink. Embassy is department of state, but the form is from USCIS. That’s why it gets confusing.
 
I had to check with mine and they told me a scanned was just fine. I suggest you do that too if you’re worried. I did that because I freaked out due to this misinformation from one of the filers in my country. Not every petitioner can be present at the time of the interview and not every country has a cheap and reliable post service (it would cost us $150 for him to send me one single page of the form).

Regarding form I-134, I have read that the petitioner in the USA can complete and sign / date the form in ink, then scan to pdf and email it to the beneficiary who can print it in their home country and that will be sufficient for the US Consulate or Embassy interview. To be certain however, I would suggest emailing the local US Consulate.

That's exactly why I started my post with "I would personally send originals". I couldn't find a definitive answer and some say consulates will consider copies and some say originals.
 
If you have the time and resources to send the original form I-134 singed in black ink to your beneficiary, do it! That would be my advice. Of course same goes for the letter of intent to get married!

My understanding is that you can complete your DS-160 as soon as you receive the P3 welcome email from the Embassy which handles your case but not sooner.

Hey, all. No need to argue about that. K1 is a total gray area.
Officially, it's non-immigrant, therefore we need to adjust our status in the US. The intent to immigrate is only implied, fiancés have the option of not really adjusting status/not marrying/going back to their home countries, though we all sign intent to marry letters. It's not like a B visa – intent to immigrate is not considered because it's made for tourism only.
 
Because it's a gray area, we need to file DS-160 like non-immigrant visas and fill I-134 form like non-immigrant visas and adjust our status to permanent resident/immigrant whenever we fill in our visa obligations. But we also are treated as immigrant visas on NVC (we are given a case number, to check the status we have to select immigrant, etc.) and also you will find the immigration visa section of the embassies are the ones processing K1s, not the non-immigrant ones. That's why embassies list K1 as immigrant visas on their websites, and AIS interview scheduling systems do it too.

Congratulations...finally!!! Great timing to go celebrate!

Just wanted to update you @Bh_sarah and anyone else interested that we had our case approved today! Thank you for all for the support you provided. The bonus is that I am able to celebrate this whilst being on holiday in the US with my fiance 😁

Sorry for the late reply, I don't check this thread as often now that I am on the NVC thread. I contacted my Congressman a year and two months after my NOA1 but from what I have learned, I should have done it sooner. Your Congressman or Senator's office will be happy to help after at least a year of waiting. You will probably get the standard reply from USCIS that your case is progressing normally, but behind the scenes, a Congressional Inquiry will most likely trigger a speed-up on your case. Good Luck!

On Tuesday I got reply "not received yet", and on Wednesday, I got received, but not entered in system yet.
 
Your inquiry was a little too soon. Hang in there. You will get there in a week hopefully.

Just FYI, when our case seemed overdue looking at the updated spreadsheet in this thread I decided to contact my Congressman's office and they were amazingly helpful and filed a Congressional Inquiry on my behalf. They forwarded a USCIS response saying that is was "processing normally" but alas, two weeks later it was approved. I have read elsewhere on VJ an interview with a former USCIS officer who stated that when they get a Congressional Inquiry, they do have to get on it ASAP even though this is not publicly stated. Good luck on your case, I hope it's approved soon!

Just FYI, when our case seemed overdue looking at the updated spreadsheet in this thread I decided to contact my Congressman's office and they were amazingly helpful and filed a Congressional Inquiry on my behalf. They forwarded a USCIS response saying that is was "processing normally" but alas, two weeks later it was approved. I have read elsewhere on VJ an interview with a former USCIS officer who stated that when they get a Congressional Inquiry, they do have to get on it ASAP even though this is not publicly stated. Good luck on your case, I hope it's approved soon!

I appreciate this and am hopeful this will be the case. I contacted live chat yesterday and was told up to 52 days, this new email says 45. I just didn't expect the Senator's office to respond so quickly and a response from USCIS so quickly too. Either way, thanks for the support as always!

It's such a vague statement. It could be what you've suggested or it could even mean that it's been sat in storage and is only just being sent to an officer to be worked on. I honestly don't know as I haven't seen anyone else recieve a message like this when searching around forums. I'll keep you posted regardless 😁

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!

Our case with NOA1 of 22 Feb 2022 was finally approved on 14 June after 477 days. It looks like they are finally cleaning up untouched cases in Feb. Good luck to everyone still waiting, hopefully any day now!