Gigli2008

Do not return the green card. If you ever want to apply for the N600 when they issue the COC they want the original green card back! I had the green card of my kids in the safe deposit box until the local office asked for the original green card.

We are on vacation now, so I don't know whether they mailed the CoC or whether I have to pick them up at the local office.

Sib

In your case, why did you opt to get the COC instead of US passports? What is it that a COC can do that a US Passport cannot. Just asking, since I don't know. That is actually why I was asking in the first place to see if I can save my $600 and just spend the $100 for the US passport.

I think this is a case of wanting to know from those who have walked in those shoes, rather than those who respond based on what seems to rational/sensible.

Thanks,

To the original poster, let us know how this turns out. Thanks.

Will do. I may end up doing both and in a hurry before my son turns 18.

Your son will be a US citizen automatically if he is under 18 upon entry with the IR-2. He should only refer to himself as a US citizen.

Get him a US passport. Return his green card to USCIS with a photocopy of his US passport and explain that he obtained US citizenship under the child citizenship act.

Ok. Thanks. Will do so.

Maybe someone here has a clue.

I am a USC and my son just arrived on an IR-2 visa. The POE told him he will receive his 10 year greencard in the mail within 6 months.

So since he is automatically a USC because his is my minor child, he can apply for a US Passport. I already called the Passport section of Department of State and they asked that he complete the DS-11, take his greencard and my naturalization certificate to the post office when applying for his passport.

So here are the questions.

What automatically happens to a greencard when a US passport is issued. I doubt that the Department of State will alert the USCIS/DHS that a greencard holder has been issued a US passport, so as to void the greencard. Is that why people go ahead and apply for the naturalization certificate for minors, so that USCIS/DHS can update that status in their records? Why would a person have a valid green card and a US passport at the same time? When asked, what is your immigration status, does he say he is a US citizen or a green card holder? If he was in Arizona (wink...wink) What does he carry with him at all times when driving? No one carries their passport with them when driving, while greencard holders are supposed to carry that document with them at all times.

What are your views on this matter?

Hello everyone,

I'd like to ask about the required vaccines for immigration visa.

I sponsored my parents to apply for IR5 immigration visa. They passed the interview in June and already had visas in hands. They plan to leave for U.S. in September. There are 3 required times of vaccination (first was a week before the interview day, second will be in July, third will be in 2013 so probably in U.S.).

My questions are:

1) Now that my parents already got the visas, do they need to fly across of their country to the US Immigration designated medical exam center in another city to have the second vaccination in July as scheduled?

2) Could my parents have the second vaccination in September a week before they fly for U.S. to save them two trips (the place they depart for US and have vaccination is the same city)?

3) If they miss the second vaccination, would my parents have any troubles if US Customs open the sealed envelope and find out the form I-693 (Report of Medical Exam and Vaccination Record) and/or form DS-2053 (Medical Exam Form for Immigrant) have some vaccinations missing? Remember even if my parents have the second one in July, those two forms are still incomplete because the third time only takes place in 2013.

More details:

- My parents brought the medical exam results from the above medical center to the interview. Immigration officer looked at it and granted my parents visas.

- I skim through the frequently asked questions from this link but coud not find the answer:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/uscis-vaccination-requirements

Thanks everyone.

Since no one responded to you, I suggest emailing the US Consulate and ask them those questions. And whatever response you receive by email, print it out and present it at POE.

She needs to provide whatever she can then. Proof that she visited and pictures, affidavits, etc. Does she have photos with them together with their daughter? She will also need to give him a copy of their daughter's birth certificate, and their marriage certificate.

Thanks Jill. Really appreciate your help.

I'm almost positive the Embassy will require a DNA test, and yes, they will need to prove their relationship...absolutely. I realize that couples don't think the need to prove a relationship until they start the process, but the Embassy does not care...they want the proof, and it doesn't matter at all that the child looks like him (someone else had gone through this same issue recently ~ child looking 'just' like him, but the Embassy still required the DNA and they {his fiance and child} are still waiting for their visas). She should provide copies of whatever she can, i.e., passport stamps, travel itineraries, hotel receipts...anything that proves her visits. She should also include phone records, emails, chat history, pictures of them together with their daughter, handwritten letters, marriage certificate, birth certificate of their daughter...everything she possibly can to show an ongoing relationship over the years.

Hi Jill,

This is a married couple, not a fiance situation. I am thinking the only thing that will save the situation is photos that trail all the way back to high-school after which they lived together till she came to the US. Plus written statements from those who know them. I doubt that she can get phone records from a phone without a service plan (go-phone). He lives in the country with no access to email so the only time he checks email (driving to the city)is when she sends him documents that he needs to sign (eg., USCIS forms). Also her only two visits was because it's hard to come up with airfare at her pay-grade. And in one of those visits she could not afford to take her daughter.

Hi friends,

A friend of mine came in 2005 pregnant after winning the DV lottery. She had a husband by common law (meaning they had not legally married)so no documentation of marriage, and reason why he was not added when DV was being processed. The daughter was born here in the USA in 2006. In 2008 she went and married the father of her child. She and the daughter visited him in 2010 in Kenya, so she has visited him twice, but have maintained relationships that are not documented*** (phones, email etc). In 2011 she became a USC and immediately filed for him. He is now scheduled for his interview on June 4th 2012.

Question,

Will they need to prove a bonafide relationship. The child is theirs looks like him (don't know if that matters). They have tons of photos going more than 15 years. They don't have stuff in both their names (bank acccounts, land titles, etc) Will he be asked for DNA to prove daughter is his? Just trying to prepare them.

***Please remember that most married people (common law or by civil marriage) do not realize they have to prove their relationships until later when they start the petitioning process. So in this case, it never occured to her that they needed to keep documentation of anything other than civil documents.

Thanks.

Hi everyone - HELP! I am an aussie who is currently in the states under the visa waiver program on a holiday. I just found out that I have been successful in the first round of the 2013 DV Greencard Lottery and I have spoken with USCIS who say that even though I am on a VWP, I can apply to adjust status and process the DV Lottery from here in the States. Even though they tell me this, It seems contrary to all the information I can find online and even on the USCIS website.

Any ideas if I actually can do this and if you have done it, any idea how long it might take to process. My second question is if I do apply for an AOS can I also apply for a work permit, otherwise I will be here and unable to work while I wait for the processing!

HELP! Thanks!

Send an email to the US consulate in your country. Their response is the only information worth believing, since they will ultimately be involved in processing your visa.

My husband is from Egypt and is now a citizen. He wants to immigrate his 11 year old son from Egypt. We were told the I-130 would be what we needed to do like we did for him and the processing time was about 5 months give or take. We are trying to plan on getting it done for in the summer to not disturb his school, we know we are too late for this summer but are trying to plan on when to start the process for next summer. Cairo only allows 6 months for traveling when the visa is granted, at least when my husband's visa was granted, so we need to take that into account. If anyone knows anything more I would appreciate more information.

Roro1963

I know you did not ask this but thought I should let you know so you don't waste some time like I did. When your husband files the I-30 for his son, please remember to attach the I-864W AND NOT the I-864 plain. Your husband is exempt from proving income ability to support his son, because his son will become a USC upon admission at Port of Entry. Tag me when you start the process, if you have any questions. There are not many cases here on VJ for USC filing for their own natural born children. Most VJers are bringing fiance(es), spouses and step children. The rules are a little different for USCs bringing their own children.

I can neither deny nor confirm any emotional reaction to that link.

Can I still have my Fiance and 3 Daughters and continue to hold them as the African Queens of my domain as I have been?

Pretty please. I beg of you Madam.

Think of the children.

Of course you may - oh your majesty . As long as you treat them with respect and afford them the same rights and privilges as you would your sons and brothers. And when you do that, hopefully no one will accuse you of being a feminist for wanting the following for them: equal opportunity to education, voting, property rights, the right to not be sexually harrased or abused for being women, equal pay for equal work, and other gender equality issues.

And it really is that simple

Though your point is clear it will be lost to feminists.

From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism

If you find the contents of that link offensive, then you do not deserve to have a wife or daughters or they will be second class citizens in your house.

I am done with this topic.

But But... this is already a done deal. 'They' named it without consulting you or me. Neither of us made any input during the time for 'submissions by the public' which this bill had. Where where you? what were you doing? I certainly wasn't paying attention then..

Let it roll, just this once, aye?

Thanks for coming to my aid Darnell.

Calling me dishonerable. Argumentum ad Hominem.

Special interests ALWAYS pretend it is everyone but themselves they are pushing their special interest legislation for. Guilt-tripping everyone for all their hard work just for us!

Excellent!

Two "minimizers" in there: "only offended" and "just a name" coupled with selective attention. All you have to do is put the words "just" and "only" in there and you make someone's concern disappear. You "only" raped me or "just" sold me to a foreigner as a sex slave. But it isn't an argument. It is called a "defense mechanism", under the category of Denial. You deny it by belittling it.

Selective attention means you ignore the only concern I actually raised which was the spreading of disinformation on behalf of those special interest groups the poster mentioned. The title is the most efficient means of doing that, and it is trivially so. With a mere one word difference, all that misinformation. I don't have to be so stupid as to give "credit" to someone working against me. I do not recall putting you in charge of what my interests are either. So you can't tell me that you know my interests better than I do.

The name is not an accident. There will be different versions of bills in the house and senate, numerous hearings in subcommittees for both, conference committee after that - stupendous numbers of hours in testimony at hearings over an entire legislative session - at least one, maybe more - with the president of every special interest group testifying, droning on and on about everything under the sun pertaining to the act... and not once does anybody think hey - we should call the Act what it actually IS instead of naming it for these people testifying in front of us. Sheer monumental coincidence. So counter-intuitive too.

This is by definition "political correctness" or the default position, which is women first in this case. And before you get your panties all in a wad over it, it is an intellectual point for me only and not anything worth the slightest real effort of mine to change. Because they can have their propaganda, special interest legislation and all - I'm going to make my own way in the world. I just don't have to put up with someone pissing down my back and telling me it's raining.

Making me dizzy with your long-winded argument that does not erase the fact that MEN, women and children EQUALLY benefit from the VAWA.

Thanks. Your answer raises a problem we have going the other route (I-130): he's not my adopted son. I never adopted him: by Czech law--because there was no father declared on the original birth certificate--we simply had my name added. No lawyers, no adoption, just a few forms to sign, and that was it. Here in the Czech Republic: I am his father. Not his adoptive father, not his step-father, not his biological father; simply "father". Again: I'm on the birth certificate.

On the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, there's a check box: "Are you related by adoption?" The answer: no. In fact, our relationship doesn't fit into any of these categories: again, he's not adopted, he's not biological, he's not a step-son...

The biological son of your wife IS your step son.

You should have left the birth certificate like it originally was with the missing "fathers name". Your wife "could have claimed" not to know who made her pregnant hence the blank in the fathers name on the first birth certificate. Then your wife and her son (your step-son) could have come as immediate relatives of yours, without any fuss.

It would have been much easier for your wife to have been a single parent who got married to you and thereby making her son your step-son, rather than having to explain why your name is on the birth certificate, which will be easy to disprove by DNA.

BUT, in your bid to distort the story, you knowingly lied on the birth certificate, and put your own name as the father. I bet it is now hard to take your name out of the birth certificate without a DNA test.

Our package left NVC on April 15, 2011, and Ben's interview was on May 26, 2011. But, we scheduled the interview ourselves using their new system. Your case may be different since you are petitioning your son, and your interview may be scheduled by the NVC (I know they schedule the CR-1's). I would call the NVC and ask them. They should be able to give you an idea. The wait could possibly be a couple of months, maybe more, but I am just guessing. When we scheduled our interview, the times available were Monday through Friday (it didn't specify that only certain times of the month were available) but again, I believe the choices are different depending upon which type of visa you are applying for. You select the visa type before you are permitted to see the interview schedule. If it's scheduled by the NVC, then obviously this is a moot point. I hope this helps a little.

I'm planning to request an expedite once NVC is complete based on the need for my son to take summer classes before his last year of high-school begins in August 2012. I hope that will be a good enough reason. I don't want him to start his last year of high-school not knowing what level he is academically and the summer school will give a good idea on if he will need extra tutoring before and during high-school.

Thanks for your response.

Does anyone know how long it takes to get an interview date once the case is complete at NVC? Also, any information on which times of the month the embassy schedules interviews would be helpful.

Thanks,

just need to check something, husband filed i-130 for his stepdaughter ( my daughter ) was he supposed to also send Form G-325 A or is that when filing for spouce only any help would be great thanks..

G-325 is for spouses only.

Does NVC send everything to both the agent and the petitioner?

In my case (I am the agent for my son) they send emails to both my email and my son's email. I don't know in the case where the agent is the lawyer if they would do the same. Also I don't know if this is just for emails or all communications in general.

Maybe someone else has a different answer.

Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position, while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position. It is a kind of fallacy of selective attention, the most common example of which is the confirmation bias. Cherry picking may be committed unintentionally.[1]

The term is based on the perceived process of harvesting fruit, such as cherries. The picker would be expected to only select the ripest and healthiest fruits. An observer who only sees the selected fruit may thus wrongly conclude that most, or even all, of the fruit is in such good condition.

Cherry picking can be found in many logical fallacies. For example, the "fallacy of anecdotal evidence" tends to overlook large amounts of data in favor of that known personally, "selective use of evidence" rejects material unfavorable to an argument, while a false dichotomy picks only two options when more are available.

Since you are educated, you should know that when you post something that is not your own work, you should 1) quote and 2) give credit to the person/source of said work.

In this case you plagiarized wikipedia.

I'm almost speechless.

You've posted so much about the US and yet you've never been here. Seriously?!?!

You've made multiple posts criticizing this country and it's citizens; yet you've never been here.

Where did you get your supposed knowledge of this country?

I nearly fell of my chair for that one. Never did I imagine that Peter_Pan had not set foot in this country.

BTW, I had a co-worker whose mother was Romanian and father from some other country close by Romania (don't remember) but lived in Romania since she was born. All I remember about that co-worker is the on and on and on being anti-American. This is the second time I am seeing this, and hopefully the last. She came here on a student visa to advance her degree. To avoid deportation she married a US citizen. She now has citizenship and subsequently petitioned for her mother, father and brother to leave Romania so they can all live in the US. And all the while she was bashing the US - constantly. Calls her American husband an "idiot" behind his back, and is all lovey-dovey in public. Unbelievable.

Right. So you made my point that religion is out of the school.

Without religion, there is no moral standard.

So, where do we disagree?

My point was, that the decision to take religion out of school was not because the government was anti-religion. It was to protect the rights of all, so that all can choose when and where and what to worship. In any case, I did mention that religion is a parent's responsibility. If you as a parent are waiting for your child to receive religion in school, then you the parent is the one failing your child. What you are asking for is for the government to dictate to all 300 Million of us what religion we will follow. So today we get a Muslim president or a Muslim inclined government and all of us are forced to adhere to Islam. Tomorrow we get a Christian president and a christian inclined government and half the population that is not christian is forced to adhere to christian principles. Is that what you want? Teach your children what you want them to believe and if you are a successful parent, they will follow your moral teachings.

Well, we will see.

The poor uneducated immigrants were given as a standard to aspire to - aka, go through thick and thin to make in the the US, no matter how hard it is to cross the border and how underpaid they are here compared to Americans.

Per child.

I guess a country like Romania that has ONLY 19 Million in population (in comparison to 300 Million US population) and the size somewhat equivalent to the great State of Michigan can afford to be a "great" country hence the tooting of the horn. The US has to manage 300 Million people and try to do right by all of them, including the roughly 1.2 Million Romanian-Americans. Cut us some slack. Hopefully, unlike you, those 1.2 Million Romanian-Americans love being here.

I thought it was 6 weeks FMLA for a normal birth and

up to 12 weeks if it was a C-section. Could be wrong though

And those time allotments only being if the employee

had worked the required amount of hours (like 1,250 hours)

to accrue the time off.

A birth is a birth. FMLA is 12 weeks. Those who want more than 12 weeks can by getting short-term disability through their employers health insurance. You get 30 days short term disability, then take your 12 weeks FMLA.

Yes, of course it happens everywhere in the world, but IT IS NOT ACCEPTED as a social norm.

It is becoming MORE and MORE accepted in the USA because of one simple reason: the losing grip of religion.

In Latin America, women are still brought up in the Catholic religious ways. This does not guarantee that cheating will not happen, but the STANDARD is there.

The same can be said of the Philippines and Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia.

The difference is MORALITY is still respected, while in the USA, that thought of MORALITY is frowned upon (heck, any type of prayer has been taken out of the schools). When you have no standard/no morals, you have no lines to cross, and you're more free to choose the hedonistic carefree lifestyle that the 70's generation dreamed. I mean having a Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian (two women who have shown themselves having sex in films) as role models? Give me a break.

It is my opinion. It is my observation. If it hurts too much for you, perhaps I may have hit some truths, because as the old saying goes, TRUTH hurts.

The US is not a country like other countries where there is a majority religion. The US has many many religions, Muslim, Catholic Christian, Mormon, Budhists, Jewish/Judaism and many many more. Choose which religion you are, say Christian. Would you want your child to be made to pray a Muslim prayer in their school? If you are Muslim, would you want your child to be made to pray a Christian prayer in their school? If you are Catholic (who don't believe in salvation) would you want your child to be indocrinated with salvation talk. In my opinion, religion is parental responsibility, not the schools. Keep religion (any religion) out of school and you will not be accused of indoctrinating someone elses child with your personal beliefs.

If you're not already here, Gigli, then we look forward to having you! If you ARE already here then we are thankful to have you.

Oh! I am here and have been for 14 years and counting . I came here because I knew life would be better for me in the US. I stuggled a little bit the first year in the US, but like they say, "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps" and now I have a job that pays me 95% more than I did back home, even though I had a really good job there too. I have a paid up home in Texas and a paid up car. I have used opportunities in the US to better my parents/siblings/family back home, and I know they are grateful that I came to the US.