OldUser

Essentially, once you activate immigrant visa, the general expectation from US immigration officials is for you to start living in the US. They may be OK with few months away to wrap things up before you move permanently. But ultimately, green card is for living in the US. It's not a fancy tourist visa.

With option 2 are you moving to the US during Christmas break in 2026 or just visiting? If just visiting, you're taking a big risk. Even if moving you are taking a big risk, but at least you'll may have some sympathy from CBP.

Ok, so the selective service registration is not required. Great! If never activate visa and never travel to the US on immigrant visa, you won't become a LPR. If you come to the US to activate visa, leave, and don't travel there for 3 years, there's great chance of being stopped at border after 3 years and being referred to immigration court (NTA). At immigration court you have to prove you had ties to the US allowing you to keep LPR status. If you don't have job, don't have property or lease, bank accounts etc in the US, it will be nearly impossible to prove you have sufficient ties to the US. And at that point, judge will likely take status away and you will have to apply for visas to visit the US

That's awesome, having SSN is a huge relief.

I don't know if anybody receives EAD when filing before marriage anymore. But applying for SSN before marriage would have been a nice move. Now he'll most likely to get SSN when he receives EAD or green card. SSN is good for opening joint accounts, getting on lease, starting building credit etc.

Makes sense. Good luck!

Thank you for your detailed report @lanade and this too 🙂 :

Here's doc: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/all-forms/filing-form-i-765-with-other-forms

He has to potentially talk to immigration officer and explain all answers on forms during interview. So it's best you fill it together and he asks all the relevant questions. Immigrant owns all forms other than I-129F, I-134, I-864 and I-693.

All men (citizens and GC holders) between 18 and 25 must register for Selective Service, which means potential conscription: https://www.sss.gov/

Who told you this? I naturalized earlier this year. No N/A were used. I think majority of VJ filers don't do it. It's something relevant to 2017, but not 2025.

Congrats! Did you file under 3 or 5 year rule? Did you file within 90 day early filing window?

There may be an issue with marital union requirement. So it looks like you weren't living in the US together with your spouse for 3+ years at the time of filing? It may or may not work, depending on officer. I assume (maybe I'm wrong) you were briefly in different countries during CR-1 process in the last 3 years from time of filing N-400? So please come back to us with update after the interview. Situations like this require a little more knowledge / understanding from adjudicator which can explain some slower than others timeline.

The instruction is pretty clear. If you mark "No" then you don't need to put anything further and you go to question 4.

Did you apply within 90 days of early filing window or after being a resident for over 3 years?

My advice is to ignore MyProgress estimates. It's never accurate. On day of my oath, it showed 3 weeks until decision. Do you have I-751 pending?

Elaborate on point 2? Do you have an example of such question?

@Beeptweet to elaborate on taxation point @appleblossom mentioned already in this thread... US is a pretty unique country. Green card holders (LPRs) and US citizens must report their world wide income every year to IRS. So even if you don't live in the US and make money elsewhere, you must report your income and potentially pay taxes in the US too. There is foreign income exclusion and other things which are complex. The penalties for non complying can be severe. And you only stop being LPR when you file and sign form I-407 or immigration judge takes away your status. Think twice before activating your immigrant visa, especially if you're not sure about living in the US. You may get obligations you never asked for. Good luck!

And I'm not talking about decision, it can take many months and sometimes even years. I'm talking about application receipt notice. It can take 4-8 weeks to get just that in the mail. So if you're only in the US for 21 days, you can miss it even if you file I-131 same day as you arrive. Immigration in the US is a slow, expensive and nerve racking process. It's typically not fast or efficient. Some folks get lucky with quick turnaround, but it's the minority. I think you already know this, since you went through immigrant visa process and it wasn't fast?

This is very optimistic. Receipt letter alone can take 4-8 weeks. Biometrics are typically scheduled within the first 1-3 months after submitting application, but for my I-751 it took about 5 months for biometrics to get reused.

Your mileage can vary. Typically at least 10-14 days notice is given.

Urgent travel within 14 days wasn't mentioned in earlier comment you posted. It is the most important requirement for urgent passport service.

I wouldn't say to all. Only to those who have an urgent, already booked trip within the next 14 days

Sure it can be problem. USCIS asks for it for this info for a reason. They can revert approval of N-400. Also, if away, don't miss the ceremony. Here's thread when somebody got stuck in limbo because of rescheduling and missing their ceremony

Yes. Applicant can travel with green card and foreign passport. Whenever there is a gap between interview an oath, applicant is asked to fill a form before oath listing any new international travel and / or citations. Applicant should meet physical presence and continuous residence criteria as well as good moral character at time of oath.