OldUser

To keep or bring? To keep because USCIS wouldn't play games saying they don't believe copies. If they're documents on watermarked official paper it's hard to say they're fake. I know I'm too defensive when it comes to keeping paperwork, but you can never underestimate the federal agency's ability to cause issues in the future. There was a thread recently about DOS not issuing passport to a young US citizen, doubting their whole naturalization

My advice is to keep original case receipts and approval letters in addition to what you're keeping. In addition, it wouldn't hurt to scan everything you have and store in the cloud AND USB stick AND computer. Keeping three copies in three different places ensures you can recover data after natural disaster / fire or computer malfunction. You never know when you may be asked again to reprove everything. The chance of it happening is low, but it would be hard if you destroy all evidence. It's a lot of work to scan, but the cost of storing it in the cloud is free or close to 0.

Yes there is a limit of 2 attempts only, after which you have to file a new N-400.

What matters is not a pick up date but post mark date. And it got marked before 04/19, so you're good. I wouldn't worry about this. USCIS comes and empties PO box in batches, not daily from what I understand.

4-6 weeks is typical to get extension letter / receipt after filing. You mailed it on Saturday, I'd think you should get news by May 6 - May 20th. Ideally you should have filed in February-March

But it can be few months. We just don't know because USCIS is not consistent processing these cases.

It is. Good luck!

That's the classical tactics by USCIS, I've seen it few times now. The only problem is, some get lucky but eventually the resources get shifted elsewhere and processing becomes slow without any warning. Good example is I-751. When I filed mine, California Service center was one of the fastest. Within a year it degraded to be one of the slowest, while Potomac improved.

You need to answer three questions and back it up with evidence: 1) Why are you living apart? Show the letters ans other documentation proving your grad school obligations and her internship. 2) What effort do you take to see each other and keep the marriage alive? E.g. show plane tickets, hotel and other reservations, photos together, events you attend together, vacations you take together, affidavits from friends and family. You should start comingling finances. Can you both open a joint savings account and start saving for a common goal such as deposit for lease, or downpayment? Doesn't have to be big contributions, if both of you can start saving $100 a month that's already something and better than nothing. 3) What is the long term plan? You need to be able to explain how you will build life once one of your finishes their obligations. Are you moving to her city? Is she moving to your city? What's the timeframe? These cases are harder but approvable if you can document everything well and convince immigration the marriage is geniuine.

There's a possibility of it taking a year or so. It's hard to predict.

It's worth trying. I wouldn't trust it 100% though. Many banks have advanced AI fraud detection systems. Humans (even security team) often cannot do much about it, or override it until charge actually is attempted and denied. I read when people attempted giving notice to the bank, the person on the call said they did something on the backend, only to find later transaction was declined.

With any evidence - provide all pages or take a risk of receiving RFE.

You call, there's no right or wrong answer. I bet if you include boarding passes, passport scans will make very little difference. It may give a slight indication that your spouse is trusting you with their very important document (passport) but that's a very very minor point and also just my opinion, not supported by evidence.

You're solid then.

In my case took about 2 weeks after receiving approval letter in the mail. But the approval letter itself takes up to 4-6 weeks

Approval notice - maybe. But don't miss the GC! It takes 3-6 weeks to get it in the mail after approval. If I was you and the trip wasn't urgent - I'd postpone it.

It was pretty common before USCIS started charging for AP separately. We don't have enough data to say whether now AP will be processed faster because of the new fee schedule or it will remain the case of it never being issued. Remember, each case is individual

You can, but those should be accompanied with W2 / 1099 etc. Tax return transcripts don't need this additional documentation. Don't sweat it too much and good luck!

If you have stamps of entering foreign countries together when travelling - it could be added. I submitted that as evidence (asked by lawyer). May be an overkill, but remember the instructions in I-751 ask to provide as much evidence as possible. I (and my lawyer) interpeted it this very conservatively and literally.

Photos should be annotated for two reasons: 1) Photos should span through months and years to show how life together evolved. If there are no dates in caption, how can one tell when where they taken? Maybe they were taken few days apart, which is not good enough evidence. 2) Photos should have captions of people on them. Photos of just two of you are worthless. Photos with family and friends can contain 3-10 people in each of them. Person reviewing the case may have never seen you or your spouse. If they cannot tell who's on photos and what's the relationship - those photos are worthless. Summary: photos are the least important evidence. But if you do send them, make sure to include photos spanning months and years, only send photos including other people, and make sure to annotate them. Photos without descriptions are of no value. Done that for my AOS, ROC as advised by lawyer. Both approved promptly without RFEs P.S. I wouldn't personally send social media stuff. Some couples may benefit, but the gain is small.

Authorized users is good, as you're effectively sharing the card and debts. What about joint lease and joint bank checking / savings accounts? Do you file taxes jointly too?

I don't have exact information. I think lawyers specializing in Mandamus (Hacking et al) cite the clause in the law which is says something like "case should be decided in reasonable amount of time". I think published processing times are not legally binding, but the law is open to interpretation, and lawyers claim anything over 12 months is unreasonable. The idea is, USCIS doesn't want to burden IJ as they're too busy, so they decide on case. I'd love to hear from @igoyougoduke

You can cancel, but then would have to start form scratch (more years of wait). Sorry to hear about your health, can you not make it to the interview due to health reasons?

Prepare an errata sheet with all the corrections and bring to N-400 interview. Interview is a chance to fix any mistakes / typos.

Agreed, WoM should include decision on I-751 too