Ninjaturtur

How is everyone receiving their EAD so quickly? Did you guys put in an expedite request?

I've been waiting since February and haven't heard anything since. 

My case is held at national benefits center, is that why?

I really wanna start working and just wondering if there is any way to get my EAD soon....

Hi all, I wanted to make this group to post updates on everyone's AOS/EAD/AP etc. 

I'm personally very interested in everyone's work authorization status, if you've already received yours?

My timeline is;

Feb. 24 2023: AOS/EAD/AP submitted 

Mar. 03 2023: Rejected (used an old version of form)

Mar. 04 2023: AOS Resubmitted 

Mar. 28 2023: RFE received 

May 19 2023: response to RFE submitted 

Waiting since. 

Hi, for those of you who applied for your work authorization, did you already get it? 

Could you guys share how long it took for you to get your work authorization?

Thank you!

3 hours ago, Skye841 said:

Hi i just came across this licence stuff browsing k1 info. So im about to file AOS 485 with forms 765 and 131. So k1 visa holders are not allowed to drive over here? I have a full aussie licence and have been able to drive over here previously on my ESTA. Currently in living in VA. I thought once you move to the US you could drive on your own country licence for 12 months in US, or if you bring an international driving permit with you?

Yes, you can still drive with your international license fill it expires. In my case, car insurance was very high with my international license and for it to go down, I had to have a US drivers license for at least a year so I wanted to get started on my US license ASAP.

If you don't have that problem, I think it's smarter/simpler to use your international license till you get your EAD.

My friend in VA said she had no problem getting her husband's US license and also to renew it as well!

1 minute ago, Demise said:

That's what the website says, but if she offered go in there and ask her for it and see what happens. Like there's nothing to lose here. Worst case scenario you'll get told no and your license will expire in April, best case scenario they'll renew you as non-compliant.

 

Last thing you could do is grab your I-485 notice and passport with K-1, print out of the Real ID Act and argue that because 202(c)(1)(B)(3)(ix) states that applicants for AOS are eligible them demanding an EAD is improper when you have the I-485 receipt right here since that's the proof of it and not an EAD.

Very true. 

I'm just very paranoid because I don't want to be recognized as an undocumented immigrant after I've come so far with this bullshit immigration process. 

I've read a few posts about Maryland people getting their license renewed too so I'm gonna post them in case there are other people in the same situation. 

I'm gonna go back to a different MVA and try giving them my i-485 and i797c and see if that'll get me anywhere. 

Thank you guys so much for your help!

54 minutes ago, Demise said:

Biggest question is: Did you apply for and receive an Employment Authorization Document? Maryland is a bit dumb in that it will only accept that or a foreign passport with a valid I-94 for Real ID.

 

If yes, use the EAD as your primary document. If not then unfortunately I don't think much can be done here. Go hassle your senator or congressman to have them poke USCIS to get you the EAD.

@EatBulagathank you!

@DemiseUnfortunately, I still have not received my EAD yet. I will try contacting the senator or congressman.

So people in Maryland, did you get your driver's license and lose it after 4 months and waited for EAD to come in?

Is there anyone who "negotiated" their way into extending their drivers license?

MVA staff offered to put me on a non compliant status and she said after I get my papers, I can simply update my status. 

It sounds so easy, but I can't imagine there to be no catch. 

It sounded like she could do it right there and then and didn't say anything about 2 years of taxes or anything. 

Need advice with drivers license!

Has anyone else struggled with getting/ renewing their driver's license?

The background info is: December 2022 I moved to Maryland on k1. Got my Maryland driver's license on AOS in April 2023, BUT it has the expiration of 4 months from the day I get it.

Fast forward 3 months later which is today, I went to renew my license. They told me I need to have my green card to renew it otherwise, even if I renewed it today, it will still expire in a month.

They told me there's nothing they can do about it because the expiration date is what the homeland security gives to the motor vehicle administration.

Has anyone had this issue when trying to renew their driver's license? If so, what did you do to resolve it?? Any help is much appreciated!!!

Need advice with driver's license!

Has anyone else struggled with getting/ renewing their driver's license here?

The background info is: December 2022 I moved to Maryland on k1. Got my Maryland driver's license on AOS in April 2023, BUT it has the expiration of 4 months from the day I get it.

Fast forward 3 months later which is today, I went to renew my license. They told me I need to have my green card to renew it otherwise, even if I renewed it today, it will still expire in a month.

They told me there's nothing they can do about it because the expiration date is what the homeland security gives to the motor vehicle administration.

Has anyone had this issue when trying to renew their driver's license? If so, what did you do to resolve it?? Any help is much appreciated!!!

Need advice with driver's license!

Has anyone else struggled with getting/ renewing their driver's license here?

The background info is: December 2022 I moved to Maryland on k1. Got my Maryland driver's license on AOS in April 2023, BUT it has the expiration of 4 months from the day I get it.

Fast forward 3 months later which is today, I went to renew my license. They told me I need to have my green card to renew it otherwise, even if I renewed it today, it will still expire in a month.

They told me there's nothing they can do about it because the expiration date is what the homeland security gives to the motor vehicle administration.

Has anyone had this issue when trying to renew their driver's license? If so, what did you do to resolve it?? Any help is much appreciated!!!

13 hours ago, JanaV said:

If you have a job offer from a future employer that is a solid ground for an EAD expedite which would make the wait significantly slower (in most cases that is)

That's good news!!!! I didn't know that.

Do you know how I can file to expedite the process?

1 hour ago, Fil&Em said:

When applying for the Work Authorization, you will have to select which elegibility applies to you. You are going to have two options:

• K1 - This will be only valid for the duration of your K1 visa (max 90 days, i.e. the permit would expire at the end of the 90 days after entrance with K1 visa) - in practice, I'm not sure how useful this is at the moment, as it is possible, if not more likely the permit would not be ready on timely manner, considering current processing times.
• Jointly with AOS. The duration of this one will be longer, and probably work for the time you wait for the Green Card;

Processing times for EAD is heavily dependent on where you are applying for it. If you look into the timelines at VJ currently, some people are getting the work permit through AOS in roughly 30 days, others in a couple of months, and others have been sitting for quite some time.

 

To be fair with you, and this is not advice, I see no point in applying it through K1 currently. AOS seems to be the only viable option. But I may be wrong here. To be fair, haven't heard of anyone applying for the K1 EAD in the last few years. Maybe someone else have head.

Hi @Fil&Em, thank you so much for your detailed reply. 

I 100% agree that it's probably the best to apply for it with AOS. 

My future employer was pushing me to get the work authorization ASAP so I wanted to see what would be the efficient way of going about it. 

It was super helpful& thank you!

Does as anyone know how the work authorization work for k1 holders?

I was told that once I'm married and am on the US soil, I can apply and receive my work authorization in about a week.

If I understand correctly, if I apply for work authorization separate from i-495, the work authorization is only valid for the 90 days my k1 visa is valid for.

And then I'll have to file for it again for AOS?

But it takes like 10 months to get the work authorization while going through AOS right?

Any information is much appreciated!!!

I'm trying to gather as much information on this as possible. 

Thank you guys!

Does as anyone know how the work authorization work for k1 holders?

I was told that once I'm married and am on the US soil, I can apply and receive my work authorization in about a week.

If I understand correctly, if I apply for work authorization separate from i-495, the work authorization is only valid for the 90 days my k1 visa is valid for.

And then I'll have to file for it again for AOS?

But it takes like 10 months to get the work authorization while going through AOS right?

Any information is much appreciated!!!

I'm trying to gather as much information on this as possible. 

Thank you guys!

On 12/11/2022 at 10:18 AM, Nylar said:

Yes you should do, it is on the K1 NOA2 for me (in the beneficiary box), looks like A### ### ###.

Thank you for your reply. 

After I ready your reply, we realized that the USCIS never sent us our NOA2. 

We contacted USCIS and asked to send us the NOA2 and they said it'll take them up to 30 days to let us know........

Like let us know if they can do that. 

Unbelievable. 

Hey guys, do k1 visa holders have an A number?

Is A number same as USCIS account number? 

There are sections in the form where they are asking for the US citizen partner's A number too, but is this something everyone has in the states?

6 hours ago, Emerick said:

K1 visas use ds 160 and it didnt ask us for a invoice # to complete it or start it. Our embassy contacted my fiancé about the fees he had to pay before he could schedule an interview or the medical exam which he just completed the medical Monday. We needed the NVC # to submit the ds 160

@Etherial @Emerick

Hi guys thank you!

I already filled ds160 and I’ll proceed with it. Thank you for all your replies!

29 minutes ago, Ako & Rich said:

https://vn.usembassy.gov/visas/fiancefaq/

 

It's not the embassy Tokyo but Vietnam.

They answered about DS-260 and DS-160.

Please click the question 4 "I understand that most immigrant visa..." 

@Ako & Rich

thank you for looking into it for me!

even on the hospital website, it says I need to bring the confirmation page of ds260 so it’s a mystery. 
but I will look into it and find out! Thank you for your help!!

13 minutes ago, Ako & Rich said:

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/jp/jp-niv-typek.asp

According to this website (see Step 4), I think we need to submit "DS-160", not DS-260. 

 

Also, 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/forms/ds-160-online-nonimmigrant-visa-application.html

Hi @Ako & Rich! Thank you for your reply. 

I believe I have to do both ds160 and ds260…

Screenshot is from the official site of my embassy. 
Could that be a typo??
did anyone else applying for k1 receive an invoice ID from NVC? 
and did anyone else submit their ds260 to get their medical exam? 

Hey guys. I’m so confused please help me out. 
On my embassy website, it says I have to submit my DS-260 online in order to take my medical exam. 
However, when I try to login to DS-260, it asks me for an invoice ID number. 
My fiancé got an email from the NVC informing our case number, but it says nothing about invoice ID. 

I looked it up and some people even say k1 doesn’t get an invoice number. 
Am I missing something here??

For those of you wondering about my timeline, here it is:)

NOA1: April 22, 2021

RFE: June 7, 2022

NOA2: Aug 1, 2022

NVC Email: sep 27, 2022

On 8/18/2022 at 8:03 PM, S@M said:

We received nothing after NOA2 till we received the email saying our petition was in transit to the embassy.  Interestingly, after 3 days, when checking the status on the embassy tracking website using using our case number, it now says “ready”, which I think means we can now possibly schedule our interview and complete what they say is necessary prior to the interview.

I see! Thank you for the reply. 
It makes me happy you hear you’re moving a step closer to being together:)
it’s so concerning the fact that they only send you an email to notify because they seem so unreliable when it comes to sending emails. 
Even between NOA1 and NOA2, my fiancé SOMETIMES received email updates and SOMETIMES didn’t. 

Their work is so inconsistent it’s almost offensive. 

On 8/17/2022 at 12:40 AM, S@M said:

We received notice from the NVC today that our petition is in transit to the embassy and we received our case number.  It took 60 days from NOA2.  But finally!

Did you get any update or notification after your NOA1 got approved till you received your email saying it’s on its way to embassy? Or do we just wait with no updates? 

10 hours ago, kurumu said:

 

If you're a K1 Visa, you're not allowed to work. After married you'd need to do an adjustment of status to a CR1 visa.

 

I think where you're confused is that if you've been married for two years, you get an IR1 visa, which includes work permission automatically. If you have a CR1 visa, you need to ask for permission to work. It doesn't mean you have to wait two years, it just means a few extra steps.

Like @gooblue said, I am talking about when I adjust my k1 visa to green card. 
I know I can’t work while I’m on k1 visa, but I’m talking about when I will have started the AOS process to when I actually get my work authorization takes up to 2 years from what I’ve read. 

1 hour ago, Divs1 said:

Can’t help but ask, what do Uscis tell people who are outside of the processing times? What excuse do they use? Normally, they even refuse to talk to people so I’m just being very curious. 

They are “working on it” is what they tell you. Or that they can’t do anything about it. 
I think when it comes down to it, it’s just luck of what kind of person you can get on the phone. Some people are a lot more sincere than others, but the ratio is like 1:8. 
 

On 8/10/2022 at 11:42 PM, down n down said:

Hi , What kind of request you put in , I have been calling them and They say to me , You have to wait , It has been 107 day since They receieved my RFE . I did inquiry my case 3 times no result at all . I hope so too .

Hi sorry for the late reply. 
it was just a regular outside of normal processing request. 
I think when you’re well outside of your “normal” processing time that’s on USCIS page, you can put in a request to pay more attention to your case.
im sorry I don’t know the official name for the request:( 

On 8/9/2022 at 12:28 PM, down n down said:

Do you know How they go each group for example I m group in 72xxx but They skipped  that group ..

Hey:) we were also waiting for the response to our RFE. 
What we did was, we put in a request for them to look at our case again since it is well outside the normal processing time. 

(I didn’t know we could do this because they told us we have to wait at least 2-3 months to hear the response to our RFE, but I asked my fiancé to keep calling them till they’ll get on it and found out we could put in a request)
ours got approved about 2 weeks after. 
If you already haven’t done that, you should definitely try that. 
I hope this helps and you’ll get approved soon!